Belews Creek Steam Station
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Belews Creek Steam Station is a two-unit coal-fired generating facility located on Belews Lake in Stokes County, North Carolina. It produces 2,240 megawatts of power. It is Duke Energy’s largest coal-burning power plant in the Carolinas and consistently ranks among the most efficient coal facilities in the United States. During 2006, it was the fifth most efficient coal power plant in the United States with a heat rate of 9,023 Btu/kWh. Cooling water for Belews Creek Steam Station is provided by Belews Lake, a man-made lake formed when Duke Power built the facility in the early 1970s.
The plant is comprised of two nearly identical units. Each furnace, a Babcock & Wilcox boiler, heats steam to 1000 degrees fahrenheit in both the secondary superheater and reheater sections. The boilers are supercritical units, operating at 3400 psi. All four generators (two low pressure generators and two high pressure/intermediate pressure generators) are Westinghouse generators. The high and intermediate-pressure steam turbines were originally Westinghouse units, but were replaced during an Alstom steam-path upgrade. The low pressure turbines are original Westinghouse units.
The plant employs multiple pollution control systems, including a selective catalytic reducer which removes nitrogen oxides, an electrostatic precipitator which removes fly ash, and low NOx burners in the boiler. The plant is scheduled to complete a $500 million flue gas desulfurization project which is expected to be online during the beginning of 2008. This project will reduce the plant's sulfur dioxide emissions by 95%.
