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Wright Delivers Remarks at Duke Energy's Roxboro Coal Plant in North Carolina, Oct. 2, 2026

October 2, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:07:12

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered remarks at Duke Energy’s Roxboro Station in Person County, North Carolina, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the October 2, 2026 visit. Wright toured the plant and praised coal as a historic energy source. “By far and away, the largest source of electricity is coal. It has been for 126 years in a row,” he said during the visit, as reported by Public Radio East.

The Energy Department granted Duke Energy about $62 million this year for upkeep on two coal plants, funds that will save North Carolina ratepayers money on power plant maintenance costs, according to the same reporting; the department’s Coal Reliability Assurance listings include $28.4 million in federal funding for the Roxboro Units 2 and 3 modernization. Duke still aims to sunset coal power in North Carolina by 2040 and plans to fully convert Roxboro to natural gas by 2034, as reported from the visit.

Why it matters

Roxboro is the administration’s coal policy stated plainly: federal money now to keep coal plants running reliably — at the very plant its owner still plans to convert to gas within the decade. Both halves of that sentence are the record.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the Energy Department’s coal plant upkeep funding as reported at the October 2, 2026 Roxboro visit — about $62 million to Duke Energy this year for two plants, including $28.4 million federal for Roxboro Units 2 and 3. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Delivers Remarks at the Roxboro Coal Plant in North Carolina” (official upload, embedded above); Public Radio East, October 2, 2026; Department of Energy Coal Reliability Assurance project listings.