The North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation (NCEMC), which supplies power to 25 NC electric co-ops, owns two natural gas plants. The Anson and Hamlet plants, located in Anson and Richmond counties, respectively, use combustion turbines — large jet engines similar to what you’d find on a plane — to quickly ramp up power when it’s needed.

Plant facts

• Both plants came online in 2007.
• Each plant has six units; the Hamlet Plant’s sixth unit was added in 2014.
• Combined, the plants provide a capacity of 672 megawatts.
• The plants use a 1:1 mixture of demineralized water and natural gas for fuel, a mixture that helps reduce emissions.
• Each plant stores a total 900,000 gallons of water onsite in two above-ground tanks.
• The plants are heavily automated, and can be run with few employees or even started remotely from on offsite control center.

A reliable resource

• The plants are used as “peaking” units, providing power during times of high demand.
• Natural gas generation can also be used to supplement renewable sources of power when not available, such as solar on a cloudy day.
• Backup batteries provide power to control the turbines should the plants themselves lose power.