Buck Steam Station

Retirement: 2013
Capacity: 256 megawatts
Location: Rowan County, North Carolina
Commercial Date: 1926
Status: Retired

Buck Steam Station was once a six-unit coal-fired generating station located on the Yadkin River in Rowan County, N.C. It was Duke Energy's first large capacity coal generating plant built in the Carolinas and was named for the company's co-founder James Buchanan "Buck" Duke.

Units 1 and 2 retired in 1979. Units 3 and 4, 113 megawatts combined, were retired in mid-2011, and units 5 and 6, 143 megawatts combined, were retired in April 2013. Unit 4 was originally ordered and built for a navy vessel during World War II. When the Pentagon canceled the order, the manufacturer offered the unit to Duke Power, a forerunner of Duke Energy. Three combustion turbine units were retired in October 2012.

The coal plant is being demolished through a combination of implosion and mechanical removal of plant structures. That work is expected to conclude in 2020.

The site is now home of the new Buck Combined Cycle Plant, a 620-megawatt natural gas facility that generates electricity very efficiently while reducing air emissions. The plant came on line in late 2011.