CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 6,
2015 /PRNewswire/ -- As Duke Energy demolished one of the last
vestiges of the historic coal-fired Cliffside Steam Station in
Mooresboro on Tuesday morning,
Reno and Betty Bailey knew the
memories collected over the past 70 years by those who lived near
the plant would live on.
For decades, Cliffside station was the center of a thriving
village, and the couple's website contains memories from many of
the people who lived there.
Duke Energy demolished the station's retired powerhouse as part
of the company's decommissioning program to modernize generation
and dismantle older plants no longer in use.
Duke has completed six implosion
events at retired sites in the Carolinas since 2013. (For more
information about the company's decommissioning program, visit
duke-energy.com/coal-decommissioning.)
The station began operating in 1940 and units 1 through 4 were
retired in 2011. Its original four units were replaced with
cleaner, more efficient units. The company added unit 5 in 1972 and
unit 6 in 2012. Both are now part of the James E. Rogers Energy
Complex.
The Baileys and others who lived in the community have done
their best to preserve a time when life was simpler and neighbors
were closer. So, hearing about the implosion of the site's historic
powerhouse surprised them.
"It's another landmark going away. I'm sure that the people who
worked over there hate it more than I to see it go," said Reno.
Remembering a simpler time
For 13 years, the couple has worked most weekdays from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
remembercliffside.com, a site dedicated to preserving the memory of
the small town in western North
Carolina, just outside of Shelby.
Reno, 80, injured his left hand years ago, so he does most of
the clicking needed to manage the site. Betty, 82, does the typing.
Reno taught himself the basics of web programming with online video
tutorials in the late 1990s.
You can read their story here:
http://www.duke-energy.com/about-us/stories-reno-bailey.asp
View video footage from the implosion here:
https://youtu.be/x4i6ZQBpoKg
View video interview with Reno Bailey here:
https://youtu.be/EEkJeo7DGE0
View historic photos and photos from the implosion event today
here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dukeenergy/albums/72157659131999368
About Duke Energy
Duke Energy Carolinas owns nuclear,
coal-fired, natural gas, renewable and hydroelectric generation.
That diverse fuel mix provides approximately 20,000 megawatts of
owned electric capacity to about 2.5 million customers in a
24,000-square-mile service area of North
Carolina and South
Carolina.
Headquartered in Charlotte,
N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 250 company traded on the New
York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about
the company is available at duke-energy.com.
Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
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SOURCE Duke Energy