The 825MW Cliffside Steam Station Unit 6 in Mooresboro, the 920MW H.F. Lee Plant near Goldsboro, and the 620MW the Dan River Combined Cycle Station in Eden started operation in December 2012.
The company said this move marks another significant milestone in its commitment to meet electricity needs with advanced, cleaner generation.
Duke Energy had invested another $7.5bn in upgrading plants to cut down emissions, in addition to investing around $6bn in new plants since 2007.
These investments helped the firm in bringing down regulated fleet’s emissions of sulfur dioxide by 74% and nitrogen oxides by 57% since 2005.
Duke Energy Power Generation Operations senior VP Charlie Gates said, "Cliffside Unit 6 has one of the most stringent air quality permits in the country, and our emissions testing program has demonstrated that these sophisticated controls are performing very well."
The company has retired four coal units having 198MW of combined capacity at Cliffside in October 2011, and plans to retire another 1,469MW.
