North Carolina’s largest battery system now operating at Duke Energy substation

9-MW battery located in Asheville will provide energy support to the area’s electric system

Today, Duke Energy announced that it has begun operating the largest battery storage system in North Carolina. The 9-MW/9-MWh Samsung battery system is located next to a Duke Energy substation in the Shiloh community, which is part of the city of Asheville.

Duke
said the project cost less than $15M and will be primarily used to help the
electric system operate more efficiently providing frequency regulation and
other grid support services but added that it could power around 1,000 homes
for 4.5 hours on one charge.

Related: Five tips before acquiring a site for battery energy storage

Duke
Energy has plans to invest $600 million for 375 MW of energy storage across its
regulated businesses.

“Energy
storage will play a significant role in how we deliver energy to customers now
and into the future as we act to reduce carbon emissions by at least 50% by
2030 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Stephen De May, Duke
Energy’s North Carolina president.

Duke
Energy has more than a decade of experience with battery storage. At one time,
the company’s 36-MW battery system next to the company’s Notrees Wind Facility
in Texas was the largest battery operating in the United States. It remains one
of the country’s biggest.

The
battery storage project is just one of many Duke Energy investments in the
region. The company recently finished construction of the $817 million Asheville
Combined Cycle Station, which became fully operational April 5, 2020. The new
station replaced a 344-megawatt, two-unit coal plant at the Asheville site,
which retired on Jan. 29, 2020.

The
company also recently announced a 5-MW solar facility for the town of Woodfin
in Buncombe County.