Dan River Steam Station

Retirement: 2012
Capacity: 276 megawatts
Location: Rockingham County, North Carolina
Commercial Date: 1949
Status: Retired and demolished

In 1948, construction began on a then cutting-edge coal unit in Rockingham County, N.C. Units 1 and 2 came online in 1949 and 1950, respectively. A third unit was added by 1955, creating a net generating capacity of 276 megawatts (MW).

However, by 2008 the technology had quickly surpassed the three units that comprised the station. Duke Energy announced plans to retire the station's three units, along with three natural gas combustion turbines that had been in operation since 1968. When the three units were retired on April 1, 2012, the company was already in the midst of replacing the outdated technology. A few hundred yards away, a new natural gas facility was near completion.

The final months of 2012 saw the retirement of the smaller gas units in October and commercial operation of Dan River Combined-Cycle Station in December. The 620-MW station now in service is cleaner and more efficient, serving up to 620,000 customers – nearly double the capacity of the retired steam station.

Demolition of the Dan River Steam Station was completed in 2017 following a series of implosions and mechanical removal of plant facilities.

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Dan River Steam Station

Dan River ash basins after complete excavation

Excavation of the two ash basins at the former Dan River Steam Station was completed in May 2019. More than 1.8 million tons of ash were removed from the basins and either recycled via Roanoke Cement or placed in lined landfills.

Date	Title
Feb. 13, 2019	Duke Energy crews are working long hours to safely excavate and relocate coal ash at the Dan River Steam Station into a fully lined on-site landfill. Beginning next week and lasting until early summer, our construction and excavation teams will begin working seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Date

Title

Oct. 6, 2017

Learn more about our emergency action plans for coal ash facilities. Ash basins continue to operate safely and are highly regulated. Removing water and permanently closing basins, work that is already planned or underway, adds an additional margin of safety. Inundation maps are planning tools that illustrate a worst-case scenario and depict the areas that could be impacted in the unlikely event of a complete dam failure.

Date	Title
10/31/2016	Duke Energy completes demolition of the Dan River Steam Station, ending more than 60 years of service to the region. The plant’s powerhouse was imploded on Oct. 30 and the final precipitator imploded on Oct. 31.
10/26/2016	NC DEQ issues a permit to construct a fully lined coal ash landfill on Dan River plant property. Construction of the landfill began on Oct. 31, 2016.
10/20/2016	After more than 60 years of reliable service to Duke Energy customers, the Dan River Steam Station will pass into history with the implosion of the remaining three boilers and precipitator.
7/18/2016	Conducting a pilot project involving the movement of 4,000 tons of ash by truck to a cement facility in Virginia to evaluate possible reuse of coal ash in concrete applications. As part of the pilot, up to 10 trucks may visit the Dan River site each day through August.
Feb - Mar 2016	Crews will be performing riverbank maintenance along the banks of the Dan River, which will require the removal of some trees and the use of a barge in the river.

Date	Title
9/24/2015	Community open house featuring information stations on our coal ash management plans, an update on plans to demolish the Dan River Steam Station and strategies for protecting groundwater and the environment.
Feb - Mar, 2015	Installing groundwater monitoring wells to help inform future ash basin closure recommendations.

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