Davidson County commissioners spent Monday night weighing a request from Duke Energy to rezone roughly 1,600 acres along Giles Road in Lexington for a sprawling new natural gas storage complex, one piece of a larger project that would send a pipeline under the Yadkin River to a companion power plant in neighboring Davie County. Community members packed the meeting to speak both for and against the proposal, but as of 10:30 p.m., the Board of Commissioners had still not cast a vote.
The meeting started at 6 p.m. Monday, according to WXII 12 News, which reported that Duke Energy is seeking to rezone approximately 1,600 acres of land for the facility. Per the station's reporting, Duke's own interactive map places the Davidson County site at 3714 Giles Road in Lexington, while the paired Davie County site sits at 5192 North Carolina Highway 801 South in Mocksville.
The request would shift the tract from a rural agricultural district to a conditional zoning heavy industrial district, according to FOX8 WGHP. That outlet reports the Davidson County side would house a gas storage facility built around three large tanks and other equipment, with a pipeline running under the river to connect it to the generating plant across the water in Davie County.
What Duke Energy Says It's Building
Duke Energy describes the overall undertaking as the Davie-Davidson Energy Complex, made up of two gas-fired power plants along the Yadkin River — one in Davie County and one in Davidson County. On its own project page, the company says the Davidson County facilities could include liquefied natural gas storage, an Energy Reliability Center, and other associated facilities.
Duke frames the complex as a response to surging electricity demand, stating that it aims to meet growing electricity needs and strengthen the region's ability to deliver dependable power when customers need it most. The station's report notes the facility falls under Duke Energy's subsidiary, Piedmont Natural Gas.
Not everyone accepts Duke's explanation for why the power is needed. As reported by WFDD, some residents have pointed to data centers as a driver of new demand, a claim Duke Energy disputes, saying the growth is driven mostly by increased manufacturing and migration to the Carolinas.
How It Compares to Duke's Other Plants
If built as proposed, the new generating capacity would dwarf some of Duke's existing gas infrastructure. The Assembly reports that Duke's Asheville plant generates just 560 megawatts, while the new unit planned for this project would be two and a half times greater. The same outlet notes the Asheville plant emitted 1.1 million tons of greenhouse gases, measured as carbon dioxide equivalent, in 2023.
Regulatory scrutiny of Duke's gas expansion plans elsewhere in the state has not always gone the company's way. According to WUNC's reporting on a separate, unrelated Richmond County proposal, the North Carolina Utilities Commission denied Duke Energy permission to build a gas plant there in a rare rebuke — a reminder that state regulators, not just county commissioners, hold significant sway over whether projects like this one ultimately get built.
What Happens Next
Duke Energy's own documentation shows the company filed an air permit and a pre-Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity on October 9, 2026, to begin the state regulatory review process — filings that initiate scrutiny but do not themselves constitute approval. The company's published project timeline lists natural-gas infrastructure construction for 2028 through 2032 as contingent on securing all state regulatory approvals, and Duke says it hopes to have the complex up and running by 2032.
For now, the fate of the Giles Road rezoning rests with the Davidson County Board of Commissioners, who had not reached a decision by the time Monday's meeting stretched past 10:30 p.m. Whether the vote comes later this week or further down the road, residents on both sides of the debate are expected to keep pressing their case as the broader Davie-Davidson Energy Complex moves through the permitting process.
