Draft Notes from Site Visit at Progress Energy's Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant on 

October 20, 2009

EPA conducted a site visit at Progress Energy’s Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant (Cape Fear) 

located in Moncure, NC on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 to learn about the operations at the plant, 

including the operation of the oil-fired combined cycle units and coal-fired units and the 

handling of the ash generated at the plant. Table 1, located at the end of this memorandum, 

identifies the site visit participants. An overall water balance diagram for the plant is provided as 

Attachment 1. 

This memorandum describes the information collected during the site visit and the pre-site visit 

phone call, which was held on October 14, 2009.

Plant Overview

• Cape Fear operates two coal-fired electric generating units. The coal-fired units 

are summarized in the table below.

Cape Fear Coal-Fired Electric Generating Units

Unit Installation 

Date

Gross 

Capacity 

(MW)

Particulate 

Control NOx Control SO2

5

Control

1956 150

Electrostatic 

precipitator (ESP)

(cold-side)

Selective noncatalytic 

reduction (SNCR)

(2006)

None

6 1958 180 ESP (cold-side) SNCR (2006) None

[QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: Does the plant operate hot-side or cold-side ESPs?]

[QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: Please confirm the start date for the SNCRs.]

• Cape Fear also operates two combined-cycle electric generating units (Units 1 and 

2), each consisting of two oil-fired combustion turbines and one steam turbine. 

The exhaust gases from the combustion turbines are used to generate steam in one 

of two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG). The steam from the HRSG is 

used to turn one of the steam turbines. The table below summarizes information 

on the combined-cycle electric generating units operating at Cape Fear.
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Cape Fear Combined Cycle Generating Units

Unit Installation 

Date

Winter 

Capacity (MW)

Summer 

Capacity

(MW)

Type of Unit

1 1923 15 11 HRSG

2 1924 15 11 HRSG

1A 1969 9 9 Combustion Turbine

1B 1969 9 9 Combustion Turbine

2A 1969 9 9 Combustion Turbine

2B 1969 9 9 Combustion Turbine

• Units 1 and 2 were initially constructed as coal-fired units in 1923 and 1924, 

respectively, but the units were retired in XXXX. [QUESTION FOR CAPE 

FEAR: What year were Units 1 and 2 initially retired (prior to the repowering)?] 

In 1969, Cape Fear installed the four combustion turbines and also decided to 

repower the Unit 1 and 2 steam turbines to use in a combined cycle operation with 

the combustion turbines.

• Units 3 and 4 were decommissioned in the 1940s. [QUESTION FOR CAPE 

FEAR: Were Units 3 and 4 coal-fired units prior to being decommissioned?]

• Cape Fear stated that Units 5 and 6 are not considered baseload units, but instead 

are considered “intermediate” units. However, Cape Fear noted that during the 

past three years, Units 5 and 6 have basically been operated as baseload units. 

• Cape Fear stated that the minimum load for Units 5 and 6 is 50 MW for each unit; 

therefore, Cape Fear will shut down the units if the requested output is less than 

50 MWs. 

• Cape Fear uses once-through cooling water to condense the steam associated with 

the coal-fired units and the HRSGs. The plant uses the Cape Fear River as the 

source of the cooling water. The cooling water is transferred to the plant’s 

discharge canal via internal Outfall 003. The discharge canal flows to the Cape 

Fear River where the plant discharges via Outfall 007. Cape Fear stated that 

Outfall 007 is not located at the point where the discharge canal enters into the 

Cape Fear River, but is located XX feet prior to the Cape Fear River. 

[QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: How far upstream of the Cape Fear River is 

Outfall 007 located?] 

• Cape Fear also has cooling towers on site to control the temperature of the 

discharge to the Cape Fear River. If the temperature of the discharge canal 

approaches 32°C (90°F), then Cape Fear operates the cooling towers in oncethrough mode to lower the temperature of the discharge. Cape Fear stated that the 

cooling towers are typically operated during the summer months (May through 

September).

• The Cape Fear plant has 64 employees.
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Combined-Cycle Electric Generating Units

• Cape Fear stated that No. 2 fuel oil is the only fuel used in the combustion 

turbines. Cape Fear does not have the capability to burn fuels other than oil in the 

combustion turbines.

• Cape Fear stores the No. 2 fuel oil in a 500,000 gallon tank. Cape Fear stated that 

the tank contains a 14 day supply of oil when all four combustion turbines are 

operating at full load. [QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: During the site visit, 

Leon stated that when all four units operate at full load, they use 8,000 

gallons/hour. If these are the correct numbers, then the tank only has a 2.6 day 

supply of oil. Please confirm the information in this bullet.] 

• Cape Fear stated that the four combustion turbines are “Frame 5” General Electric 

combustion turbines. 

• The combustion turbines are considered “fast start” electric generating units 

because they can be operational in 7 minutes and operating at full load in 10 

minutes.

• The combustion turbines are operated only during times of peak electricity 

demand. The combustion turbines typically only run for approximately 30 

minutes at a time, which the plant refers to as “peaker runs.” 

• In 2008, each of the combustion turbines operated for a total of approximately 50 

hours during the year.

• Although the combustion turbines are set up to operate in combination with the 

HRSGs as combined-cycle electric generating units, the combustion turbines can 

be operated in simple-cycle mode. When the combustion turbines operate in 

simple-cycle mode, the plant closes a damper to allow the exhaust gases to bypass 

the HRSG and flow directly to the stack.

• When the unit operates in combined-cycle mode, the exhaust gas flows through 

the HRSG and transfers its heat to the water system and generates steam. Cape 

Fear stated that it takes approximately two hours to pre-heat the HRSG and get 

the unit online. Because of this long start-up time, the plant uses the HRSGs 

during only rare occasions when the units are expected to be operating for 

extended periods of time, which are during the extreme high (peak summer) 

and/or low (peak winter) temperatures. 

• The HRSG units are each capable of generating 177,000 pounds per hour of 

steam. 

• Cape Fear stated that both the A and B (e.g., 1A and 1B) combustion turbines 

must be operating for the plant to be able to operate the HRSG for the unit. 

• Cape Fear stated that there are no wastewaters generated from the combined cycle 

units other than periodic metal cleaning wastes on the combustion turbines. 
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• Cape Fear stated that the combustion turbines do not generate ash or residue.

Coal-Fired Generating Units

• Cape Fear receives its coal via rail. The plant burns bituminous coal in Units 5 

and 6. The sulfur content of the coal is 1.1 to 1.7 lb/MBTU. [QUESTION FOR 

CAPE FEAR: What is the chlorine content of the coal?] The ash content of the 

coal is approximately 10 percent. 

• Cape Fear keeps approximately 40 days worth of coal on site. Coal pile runoff 

generated from stormwater that contacts the coal pile is collected in an area near 

the pile and transferred to the plant’s West ash pond (described later in these 

notes).

• Cape Fear operates a SNCR system on Units 5 and 6. For the SNCR system, the 

plant injects urea directly into the boiler. The SNCRs operate frequently during 

the ozone season (May through September). The plants may operate the SNCRs 

occasionally outside of ozone season if it is needed to meet the plant’s NOx 

limits.

• In 2006 when the SCNRs were first operated, Cape Fear used ammonia for the 

SNCR injection; however, the plant decided to switch from ammonia to urea 

because urea is safer. Cape Fear noted that they had detected ammonia in the 

West ash pond effluent after the SNCRs began operating. 

• Cape Fear stated that there is a boiler blowdown stream from the two coal-fired 

electric generating units. The boiler blowdown is transferred to the plant’s east

ash pond. Cape Fear stated that the blowdown has high concentrations of silver.

Ash Handling System

• Cape Fear operates wet ash handling systems for both fly ash and bottom ash

from Units 5 and 6.

• Cape Fear collects fly ash from Units 5 and 6 with a cold-side ESP. Ash collected 

by the ESPs falls into one of the four hoppers for the unit. The plant has two 

hopper “trains”, one for Unit 5 and one for Unit 6. Each “train” has four hoppers. 

[QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: Are the economizer ash and ESP ash collected 

in separate hoppers? If so, where are the economizer ash and ESP ash combined?]

• Dry ash from the hoppers is combined into one dry fly ash header pipe. A 

hydroveyor pulls vacuum on the dry ash and mixes it with water. Cape Fear stated 

that the hydroveyor uses plant water to generate a vacuum as a result of the

Venturi effect. The vacuum pulls fly ash from the hoppers into the flowing water.

• After the hydroveyor, the sluiced ash flows into an air separator. The air separator 

is a cylindrical tank that rotates the sluiced ash like a centrifuge, separating the air 

from the mixture.
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• Cape Fear then combines the sluiced fly ash with the bottom ash and pumps the 

ash mixture to the East ash pond.

• Progress Energy stated that they have a committee that has/is investigating 

whether to install a dry fly ash handling system at Cape Fear and the other 

Progress Energy plants. The following factors affect the decision to install the dry 

fly handling system at Cape Fear:

• Lack of available space for dry ash silos and piping;

• Issues associated with transportation of dry fly ash to solid waste disposal 

(Cape Fear does not have a landfill);

• Cape Fear’s ponds are not lined and therefore do not have a leachate

collection system; and

• Capital cost of the ash handling system.

• Cape Fear stated that the bottom and fly ash are sluiced to the ash ponds once per 

shift. [QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: How many shifts per day?]

Ash Ponds

• Cape Fear has three inactive ash ponds on site. The inactive ash ponds started 

receiving wastes in 1956, 1960, and 1963. All three inactive ash ponds are now 

covered by thick vegetation and forest. Cape Fear stated that they did not receive 

guidance from regulatory officials on how to close these ponds and, therefore, the 

plant did not cap the ponds. The vegetation and forest just occurred naturally 

over the pond wastes. [QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: When did each of these 

ponds stop receiving wastewater?]

• Cape Fear has two active ash ponds, the east and west ash ponds.

• The west ash pond began operation in 1978 and receives stormwater, low-volume 

wastes, and coal-pile runoff. Low volume wastes from the plant are sent to a 

retention basin with an oil-water separator prior to being transferred to the west 

ash pond.

• The east ash pond began operation in 1985 and receives fly and bottom ash. The 

east ash pond has an estimated footprint of approximately 58 acres.

• The east ash pond has a dike that runs across the middle of the pond that 

essentially breaks the pond into two separate cells for the pond. All water enters 

in the first cell and overflows into the second cell. The plant has an alum addition 

system at the point of overflow from the first cell of the east ash pond to the 

second cell. Cape Fear noted that the system would be used to increase the 

settling in the pond, but they haven’t started using the system yet. Progress 

Energy stated that there is a similar alum system at the Sutton plant.

• The east ash pond outer dike was constructed with clay. The inner dike is 

constructed with dredged ash. Cape Fear dredges and restacks the ash in the east 

ash pond approximately once every week.
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• Cape Fear stated that they are considering increasing the height of the east ash 

pond embankment/dike to increase the pond’s capacity. Additionally, the plant is 

considering dredging the east ash pond and putting the ash in the west ash pond. 

• Cape Fear stated that the retention time through both active ponds (east and west) 

is approximately 5-7 days.

• The west ash pond overflows into the discharge canal via internal Outfall 001.

The east ash pond overflows into the discharge canal via internal Outfall 005. 

• Both the east and west ash ponds overflow continuously to the discharge canal. 

• Cape Fear stated that they do not recycle the effluent of the ash ponds for reuse in 

the plant. [QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: Why does the plant not recycle the 

ash pond effluent?]

• None of the ponds at Cape Fear (including the inactive ponds) were constructed 

with synthetic lining materials or leachate collection systems.

• Cape Fear is currently conducting structural integrity studies on the west ash 

pond. Cape Fear recently hired a contractor to perform dike slope stability 

inspections. The contractor is drilling bore holes into the dike to determine the 

composition throughout the depth of the dike. 

• Cape Fear stated that both the east and west ash ponds are also inspected routinely 

by plant personnel. These inspections consist of looking for animal patches, 

excessive vegetation, and other parameters of pond integrity around the perimeter 

of the pond. Cape Fear stated that they are not performing any routine inspections 

on the interior (bottom) of the ponds. The routine inspections are typically 

performed on a monthly basis.

• Cape Fear has six groundwater monitoring wells around the perimeter of the ash 

ponds. Cape Fear analyzes the groundwater for metals semi-annually from all six 

wells. The groundwater monitoring report from June 2009 is included as 

Attachment 2 of this memorandum. [QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: Please 

provide the groundwater monitoring reports from the previous four sampling 

events.]

Metal Cleaning Wastes

• Cape Fear performs metal cleaning operations on the combustion turbine units 

when the system performance starts to degrade. Cape Fear stated that the last two 

metal cleaning operations were performed in 2003 and 2008. 

• Cape Fear stated that metal cleaning consists of washing the compressor blades 

with water and a non-corrosive detergent (Zok-27). The detergent is mixed and 

pumped into the inlet of the compressor. After the detergent is given sufficient 

time to contact the compressor blades, the wastewater is pumped to drums for 
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storage. Approximately 150 gallons of wastewater are generated each time the 

plant performs a metal cleaning operation on all four combustion turbines.

• A waste disposal company, Shamrock Environmental, tests the metal cleaning 

wastewater for heavy metals. Cape Fear stated that the metal cleaning wastewater 

has always been classified by Shamrock as non-hazardous. Shamrock then ships 

the wastewater off site for treatment.

• Cape Fear has a control room which monitors the temperature and other 

operational parameters of the combustion turbines. If the oil lube temperature for 

the combustion turbines reaches 170°C, then the system will automatically shut 

down. To prevent the unit from shutting down, the combustion turbine operator 

can mitigate the temperature by spraying water on the turbines’ radiators. The 

spray water is then collected by sumps, processed through an oil/water separator,

and transferred to the east ash pond. [QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: Please 

confirm the handling of the radiator cooling water.]

• Air preheater washes are performed once a year on the coal-fired units. The wash 

water is collected and transferred to the east ash pond. [QUESTION FOR CAPE 

FEAR: What volume of wastewater is generated from the air preheater washes?]

• Cape Fear cleans both the waterside and fireside of the boiler tubes for the coalfired units. For the fire-side cleanings, Cape Fear uses high pressure water to 

remove residue from the tubes. Cape Fear stated that the fire-side cleanings occur 

approximately every 18 months. [QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: What volume 

of wastewater is generated and how does the plant handle the waste water from 

the fire-side cleanings?]

• For the water-side cleanings, Cape Fear uses an EDTA solution to clean the boiler 

tubes. Cape Fear stated that this cleaning occurs approximately every 10 to 12 

years. The wastewater from the cleaning is evaporated in the boiler. [QUESTION 

FOR CAPE FEAR: What volume of wastewater is generated from the water-side 

boiler tube cleanings?]
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Table 1. Site Visit Attendees

Name Organization (Representing) Telephone E-mail

Leigh Barr Cape Fear (919) 774-5208 leigh.barr@pgnmail.com

Leon Johnson Cape Fear leon.johnson@pgnmail.com

Hershell McCarty Cape Fear hershell.mccarty@pgnmail.com

Dave Phipps Cape Fear david.phipps2@pgnmail.com

Danny Wimbley Cape Fear danny.wimberly@pgnmail.com

Robin Bryson Progress Energy (919) 546-3962 robin.bryson@pgnmail.com

Fred Holt Progress Energy fred.holt@pgnmail.com

Donna Hill UWAG (205) 257-5234 dbhill@southernco.com

Jezebele AliceaVirella EPA/Office of Water (202) 566-1755 alicea.jezebele@epa.gov

Josh Hall EPA/Office of Water (202) 566-1003 hall.josh@epa.gov

Kurt Blohm ERG (Contractor to EPA) (703) 633-1675 kurtis.blohm@erg.com

TJ Finseth ERG (Contractor to EPA) (703) 633-1698 thomas.finseth@erg.com

[QUESTION FOR CAPE FEAR: Please add the missing phone numbers to the table.]