How long has Duke Energy used coal?
A. Duke Energy has been using coal to produce electricity in the Carolinas since 1911. Those first coal-fired plants (in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina) only supplemented the companys use of hydroelectricity. In the 1920s, the growing demand for electricity began to outstrip the availability of hydroelectric generation. Duke Energy began a shift to using coal as its primary energy source when Buck Steam Station, in Spencer, North Carolina, began producing electricity in 1926. With a station capacity of 369 megawatts of electricity, Buck could produce six times more electricity than the companys largest hydroelectric generating station at the timeWylie Hydroelectric Station, with a generating capacity of 60 megawatts.
