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==Progress Energy to shut coal plants==
On December 1, 2009, [[Progress Energy|Progress Energy Carolinas]] announced that by the end of 2017 it would permanently close all of its North Carolina coal plants without [[Sulfur dioxide and coal|sulfur dioxide]] scrubbers. The 11 units at [[Sutton Steam Plant|L.V. Sutton]], [[Cape Fear Steam Plant|Cape Fear]], Weatherspoon, and [[Lee Steam Plant|Lee]] total almost 1,500 megawatts and represent about a third of the utility's coal-fired power generation in N.C. The retirement plan includes the following:
* Lee is scheduled for retirement in 2013.
* Sutton is slated for closure in 2014. Progress hopes to replace it with a natural gas-fired power plant.
* Cape Fear and Weatherspoon will be shut down between 2013 and 2017. The company is considering converting 50 to 150MW of the total capacity to burn wood waste.
The closure plan was filed in response to a request by the N.C. Utilities Commission, which ordered Progress to provide its retirement schedule for "unscrubbed" coal-fired units in North Carolina. The request was a condition of the commission's approval of Progress' plan to build a 950-MW natural gas plant in Wayne County, N.C.<ref>[http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/North_Carolina/2009/12/01/CL18913 "Progress Energy Carolinas Plans to Retire Remaining Unscrubbed Coal Plants in N.C.,"] PRNewswire, December 1, 2009.</ref><ref>Tina Casey, [http://www.reuters.com/article/mnEnergy/idUS414152905220091202 "Progress Energy Joins Stampede Away from Coal,"] Reuters, December 2, 2009.</ref>
==Plant Data==
