The company filed a request today with the state asking for a new air permit, the first of several permits it will need.

The biggest effect on residents appears to be operating time. The company could run part of the plant as much as 60 percent of the time.

CP&L spokesman Mike Hughes said the new permit would allow the company to operate two of the five units approved for the site in combined cycle instead of as peaking generators.

Combined cycling recovers the exhaust heat generated by normal combustion-turbine operation and turns it into steam that powers a steam turbine generator to make additional electricity. Hughes said combined-cycle plants are more efficient than peaking units, so the company might run them more.

Project Manager Jerry Letchworth started meeting with neighbors around the Cleveland site Thursday afternoon, Hughes said, and will continue visiting until he has explained the proposed change to everyone in the area.

The combined-cycling operation would not make more noise or produce more smoke, Hughes said. It would just run more often.

CP&L will hold a community meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. May 24 at West Rowan Middle School. It will follow an open-house format, similar to the meeting held in March 1999. This will give neighbors an opportunity to hear an update on the construction in progress and ask questions about the combined-cycle technology.

Under current plans, CP&L is building three combustion-turbine peaking generators at the Rowan County site. The units are scheduled to begin operating in June 2001. Peaking generation is used to meet increased or peak customer demand for electricity, mostly on the hottest and coldest days.

The change, if approved, would involve the fourth and fifth units at the site, scheduled to begin operation in June 2003.

Under the new request, the utility wants to convert operating units four and five to combined-cycle units.

For the same amount of fuel, the plant’s output increases by about 50 percent. Because of the improved efficiency, Hughes said, the company might run a combined-cycle facility up to 60 percent of the time, while a peaking unit is used about 10 percent of the time.

The new plan would not increase the number of jobs at the plant, nor would it change the size of the operation.

But it would increase the capital investment CP&L makes in the county. That would increase the county’s tax base. Hughes said investment in the project so far is about $150 million. If approved, the combined-cycling operation would bring in about $150 million more than the original plan. The two combined-cycle units will cost $200-million to $250-million.

But it may not happen at all. To actually implement the changes, CP&L has to go through the process of acquiring permits and approval all over again. Hughes said they will have to get another Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the N.C. Utilities Commission. And county commissioners would have to hold another hearing on granting a conditional use permit.

What’s more, even if the company receives all the permits, they could decide not to go ahead with combined-cycling, although it is in the plan now. Hughes called the proposed changes the result of a “constantly evolving” resource plan. It’s not always possible to predict how things might change.

CP&L wants to apply for combined-cycling permits now, although they didn’t in the beginning, Hughes said, because the demand for electricity is increasing sooner than they thought it would. This area is growing at three times the national average, he said.