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RALEIGH, N.C., June 4, 2002 -- As the temperatures begin their seasonal rise in the Carolinas, CP&L has completed the addition of new electric generating facilities at its Richmond County (N.C.) Plant site, bringing on line more than 620 megawatts (620,000 kilowatts) of electric generating capability.
The second phase at the Richmond County site, south of Hamlet, represents CP&L's first more efficient, next-generation gas-fueled combined-cycle plant. The combined-cycle technology utilizes combustion turbines working in tandem with equipment that recovers exhaust heat and uses it to power a steam turbine-generator. This technology increases plant efficiency substantially. Using the same amount of fuel, the combined-cycle plant generates about 50 percent more electricity than simple-cycle combustion turbines.
CP&L now has more than 1,200 megawatts of electric generating capability at the Richmond County location, making it CP&L's third-largest power plant site, in terms of capacity. In addition to the combined-cycle power block, the site also includes five simple-cycle combustion turbines that operate primarily to meet heightened electricity demand during temperature extremes (often referred to as peaking units). The total site capital investment to date is about $440 million.
All of the capacity at the Richmond County site is fueled primarily with clean-burning natural gas. CP&L sister company North Carolina Natural Gas (NCNG) completed the 84-mile, 30-inch-diameter Sandhills gas pipeline from Iredell County, N.C., to the site during the spring of 2001. The units also have the capability to use No. 2 fuel oil.
Since 1997, CP&L has expanded its utility generating capability by nearly 27 percent, adding more than 2,600 megawatts of electric generation in its 34,000-square-mile Carolinas service area to meet the needs of 1.3 million customers.
CP&L is a subsidiary of Progress Energy, a Fortune 250 company whose diverse portfolio also includes St. Petersburg-based Florida Power, as well as NCNG, Progress Rail, Progress Telecom and Progress Ventures, which manages fuel extraction, manufacturing and delivery, merchant generation, and energy marketing and trading.
These companies serve 2.9 million customers across the Southeast, providing electricity, natural gas, energy services and broadband capacity. For more information about Progress Energy, visit the company's Web site at http://www.progress-energy.com.
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