LAKE NORMAN QUICK FACTS

• Year Built: 1959-1963
• Area: 32,510 acres at full pond
• Length: 33.6 miles
• Width: 9 miles
• Shore line length: 520 miles
• Maximum Depth: 110 feet
• Average Depth: 33.5 feet
• Maximum Draw-down: 15 feet
• Capacity: 3.4 trillion gallons of water
• Volume: 1,093,600 acre-feet
• Elevation at full pond: 760 feet above MSL
• Retention Time: 207 days (average)
• Drainage Area: 1,790 square miles
• Average River Flow at Cowans Ford Dam: 1,726 MGD
• Named for: Norman Atwater Cocke (former president of Duke Power)
• Source of the Catawba River: Evans Knob in Gower County
• Lake level: Call 1-800-829-5253
• Location: Latitude: 35.5177689 Longitude: -80.9557724

Cowans Ford Dam

• Total length: 7,387 feet (1,279 feet is concrete, 6,108 feet is earthen)
• Maximum height: 130 feet
• Number of generators: 4
• Generating capacity: 350,000 kilowatts
• Note: Site of crucial 1781 revolutionary war battle between British General Cornwallis and American General Davidson and it forms Lake Norman.

McGuire Nuclear Station

• Generation Units: 2
• Energy source: Uranium Dioxide (UO2)
• Generating capacity: 2258 megawatts (20% of Duke’s total)
• Construction: 1971 – 1981
• Cost: $2 Billion
• Named for: William Bulgin McGuire, president of Duke Power from 1959 to 1971.
• Location: Huntersville, NC
• 17 miles northwest of Charlotte
• At Hwy. 73 and the Catawba River
• 700 acre site

Marshall Steam Station

• Generation units: 4
• Energy Source: Coal (18,000 tons per day at full power)
• Generating capacity: 2,090 megawatts (14% of Duke’s total)
• Commercial Operation: 1965
• Named for: E.C. Marshall, president of Duke Power from 1949 to 1953.
• Location: Denver, NC
• 2 miles west of the Catawba River on Hwy 150
• Note: Marshall is the second largest coal-burning station in the Duke system. The four-unit station has consistently ranked as one of the most efficient coal plants in the nation.