Duke Power Cliffside Generating Plant, Unit 5

Historic Project: Groundbreaking Work From Earlier in Fluor’s History

Client: Duke Power Company

Location: Cliffside, NC, U.S.

Business Segment: Energy Solutions

Industry: Power

Map showing the location of Duke Power Cliffside Generating Plant, Unit 5

Executive Summary

We provided construction services to Duke Power (Duke Energy) to complete a 589-megawatt coal-fired supplemental unit to the existing four-unit Cliffside plant.

Unit # 5 incorporated a General Electric turbine generator and a Combustion Engineering boiler. The construction project required a fast-track delivery schedule.

Client's Challenge

This was our first major direct-hire power plant construction project, so we relied extensively upon craft and managerial resources with experience in other heavy industrial work completed in the southeastern United States.

Fluor's Solution

Construction was performed on an open-shop basis and included piping, mechanical and electrical work for major components such as the boiler, turbine and auxiliary systems. Site work included earth-filled dams for ash storage, access roads and related unit structures as well as cooling towers, chimney and the circulating water system.

In addition, we built an extensive coal handling system to accommodate Unit 5 and to retrofit the other existing generating units.

At construction peak, 950 personnel were employed on the project.

Conclusion

Commercial operations for the 589 MW supplemental Unit #5 became operational in the summer of 1972, following a 31-month fast-track construction schedule.