Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2016 12:02:20 -0500
From: Gene Galin
Subject: Cape Fear Plant: The energy giant’s heart is now silent, but its legacy lives on in the hearts of its keepers
Cape Fear Plant is now silent, but its legacy lives on in the hearts of its keepers
Moncure, NC – On June 5, 2015, a series of intricately laid charges detonated, ripping through the boilers of the once mighty Cape Fear Plant and turning the last vestiges of a by-gone era into a pile of twisted steel to be hauled away to the scrap yard.
While it was not the first implosion at the coal-fired facility, which had not produced power for Duke Energy customers since 2012, it brought about closure for Danny Wimberly. The Moncure, N.C. native, who spent nearly four decades working to keep Cape Fear plant running smoothly, is now overseeing its demolition.
“When the boilers came down, the realization hit me that it was really final,” Wimberly said. “Those boilers were the heart of the plant and were how we made power. The smokestacks (that came down earlier) would have been much easier to replace.”
Building a behemoth
The Cape Fear Plant, located in the unincorporated community of Moncure, N.C. (current population: 711), first began generating electricity to serve the Raleigh area in 1923. A second unit came online in 1924. Units 3 and 4 were added in 1943….
Read the entire story at
http://chathamjournal.com/