Duke Energy officials say they are working to find out why winterization efforts failed at one of their Triad-area plants. Power reductions at the Dan River Combined Cycle Power Plant and two other North Carolina facilities led to rotating outages just before Christmas. At a Tuesday briefing before the North Carolina Utilities Commission, Duke Energy officials said the natural gas-powered Dan River plant has an operating capacity of approximately 700 megawatts. But when lines froze during the cold snap, the plant moved from full power to about half its capacity.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke Energy Corp. executives on Tuesday blamed a convergence of widespread extreme cold, higher than projected demand, malfunctioning plant equipment and the inability to buy power elsewhere