The project is part of the company’s plans to invest to $500m in battery storage projects across the Carolinas over the next 15 years
Image: Duke Energy to invest $500m in battery projects. Photo: Courtesy of Duke Energy Corporation.
Duke Energy Carolinas has partnered with Anderson County in South Carolina to build a 5MW lithium-ion battery storage project, as part of a long-term strategy to integrate battery technology into the grid.
Duke Energy plans to build the energy storage project at Anderson Civic Center and it is also expected to provide power to a facility that is critical during emergency situations such as being the site of a hurricane evacuation shelter.
The project is part of the company’s plans to invest $500m in battery storage projects
The project is part of the company’s plans to invest to $500m in battery storage projects across the Carolinas over the next 15 years.
Duke Energy South Carolina president Michael Callahan said: “Through projects like this, we’re transforming the state’s energy infrastructure to support the two-way flow of electricity and significantly improve reliability for our customers.
“The added benefit of this project is that – in the case of a power outage – the storage system can be dedicated to the Anderson Civic Center so this critical emergency facility will be able to support residents and evacuees in time of crisis.”
The lithium-ion battery will be grid-tied and will be available for use by the company’s grid operators. The system will benefit all of Duke Energy Carolinas’ customers by helping grid operators to efficiently manage the grid.
The company claims that being the first of its kind in the state, the system will serve as back-up power for the Anderson Civic Center. In the event of an outage, the battery system will be able to power the facility for at least 30 hours based on its normal usage.
Duke Energy had recently submitted a request to the Public Service Commission of South Carolina to approve a provision of the lease agreement for the land from the County.
Once the final engineering study for connection to the power grid is completed later this year, the project will go through a competitive bidding process for construction and could come online in early 2021.
In June this year, the company’s Florida division announced that it will build three battery storage projects with a total output of 22MW to improve the overall reliability and support critical services during power outages.