Located in Gaston County, N.C., Allen Steam Station is a five-unit coal-fired generating facility. Units 1 and 2 began operating in 1957; unit 3 in 1959; unit 4 in 1960 and unit 5 in 1961. Named for George Garland Allen, a former president and first chairman of the board for Duke Power, the Allen facility is the only Duke Energy station with five units under one roof.
Duke Energy has made significant improvements to reduce emissions from the company's coal-fired plants. Allen has been equipped with scrubbers to reduce the station's sulfur dioxide emissions by approximately 95%.
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality hosts an open house on Jan. 29, 2019 to gather public input regarding safe closure options for Allen's ash basins. Read the two-page overview of the analysis we provided to NCDEQ, including links to site-specific reports regarding closure, groundwater and community impacts. View the cover letter we sent to NCDEQ accompanying these reports.
Crews are installing technology at Allen Steam Station to convert to managing bottom ash dry. This is one of several projects underway to take the ash basins out of service and prepare to safely close them. Night work will be needed from late June to late September to complete the work. We expect this work to cause little disruption to neighbors and are taking a number of steps to minimize impacts overnight. Neighbors may hear occasional construction noise and may see cranes that are involved in assembling the new equipment.
Work is underway to prepare for safely closing ash basins. This includes designing and constructing new retention basins for water management; installing state-of-the-art wastewater treatment systems; and installing new equipment to manage all coal ash dry rather than sending it to ash basins. While the work itself will occur on plant property, neighbors may notice periodic equipment deliveries and an increase in construction activities.
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.
Duke Energy consultants will be conducting additional testing in groundwater monitoring wells on plant property. They also will be installing additional monitoring wells in a few locations off-site near South Point Road.
We continue to make key improvements to the ash basin dams at Allen Steam Station. As we move through the next phase of our work, nearby residents may notice some increased truck traffic into the main plant entrance. We expect to complete this work by the end of August.
Update to neighbors on basin closure and projects at the site.
Neighbor letter about improvements to coal ash basins. There will be a slight increase in truck traffic in the coming months.
Neighbor letter with information on groundwater monitoring wells, closing ash basins and giving back.