Duke Energy opened a $700 million, 750 megawatt (MW), natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plant at the W.S. Lee Station in South Carolina.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based utility closed two coal-fired units at the W.S. Lee Station in 2014 and converted a third coal unit to natural gas in 2015. It no longer operates any coal plants in South Carolina. Work on the new gas-fired plant began in March 2015.

(Click to enlarge.) The 750 MW combined cycle power plant at the W.S. Lee Station. Source: Duke EnergyThe North Carolina Electric Membership Corp. owns 100 MW of the unit’s energy capacity.

Combined-cycle natural gas units generate energy more efficiently and release lower emissions than coal-fired units. The utility says that nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and other emissions are expected to drop by 87 percent overall in comparison to the station's previous coal-fired operation.

Duke Energy also operates a 180 MW natural gas boiler and two dual-fuel 42 MW simple-cycle units at the station. The utility says that 45 people work at the site.

The new power plant receives natural gas through a one-mile-long dedicated pipeline that connects to a transcontinental mainline.

South Carolina utility regulators approved the new power plant in 2014. Generating units at the W.S. Lee Station first entered service in 1951. Duke Energy Carolinas owns nuclear, coal, natural gas, renewables and hydroelectric generation and operates in a 24,000-square-mile service area of North Carolina and South Carolina.