CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Madison County
will soon be home to an innovative microgrid installation after the
North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) approved Duke Energy's
renewable energy project.
Read the NCUC's full order.
In the town of Hot Springs, the
company will proceed with a solar and battery-powered microgrid
system that will help improve electric reliability, provide
services to the overall electric system and serve as a backup power
supply to the town of more than 500 residents.
"Duke Energy's research work on microgrids has led to a
large-scale effort that will better serve, not only these customers
in a remote area, but also help us gain experience from this pilot
project to better serve all customers with additional distributed
energy and energy storage technologies," said Dr. Zak Kuznar, Duke Energy's managing director of
Microgrid and Energy Storage Development. "Projects like this will
lead to a smarter energy future for the Carolinas."
The Hot Springs microgrid will
consist of a 2-megawatt (AC) solar facility and a 4-megawatt
lithium-based battery storage facility. The microgrid will not only
provide a safe, cost-effective and reliable grid solution for
serving the Hot Springs area, but
the microgrid will also provide energy and additional bulk system
benefits for all customers. This will include reliability services
to the electric grid, such as frequency and voltage regulation and
ramping support and capacity during system peaks.
The project is part of Duke Energy's plan to meet power demand
by balancing public input, environmental impacts and the need to
provide customers with safe, reliable and affordable energy.
Another component of that plan is in the city of Asheville where Duke Energy will connect a
9-megawatt lithium-ion battery system at a Duke Energy substation
site in the Rock Hill community – near Sweeten Creek Road. The
battery will primarily be used to help the electric system operate
more efficiently and reliably for customers.
Together, the two projects will cost around $30 million and should be operational in early
2020.
Also in the region, Duke Energy is closing a half-century-old,
coal-fired plant in Arden by
January 2020 – and replacing it with
a new 560-megawatt cleaner-burning combined-cycle natural gas
plant.
Duke Energy microgrids
Duke Energy is a leader in microgrid technology. The company has
a smaller microgrid project in North
Carolina already operating. In Haywood County, N.C., Duke Energy has a
95-kilowatt-hour zinc-air battery and 10-kilowatt solar
installation serving a communications tower on Mount Sterling in
the Smoky Mountains National Park that has been operating since 2017. It is
also currently working on proposed projects in South Carolina.
Previously, the company operated a microgrid that served a local
fire station in Charlotte. It
continues to operate a microgrid at its Mount Holly research center in Gaston County.
About Duke Energy
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in
Charlotte, N.C., is one of the
largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000
people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts
through its regulated utilities and 3,000 megawatts through its
nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit.
Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience,
modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and
expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy
future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric
Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve
approximately 7.7 million retail electric customers in six states –
North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio
and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities
and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to more than 1.6
million customers in five states – North
Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit
operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as
well as energy storage and microgrid projects.
Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2019 "World's Most Admired
Companies" list and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list.
More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com.
The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact
sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's
illumination features stories about people, innovations,
community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on
Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
Contact: Randy Wheeless
Office: 704.382.8379
24-Hour: 800.559.3853
Twitter: @DE_RandyW
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SOURCE Duke Energy