Duke Energy activates North Carolina’s largest battery system at Asheville substation

A 9-megawatt battery system — the largest in North Carolina — is now operating alongside a Duke Energy substation in the city of Asheville, as support for the area’s electric system.

“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,” Stephen De May, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president, said.

Efficiency is the primary goal of the new system, which will aid frequency regulation and other grid services. It cost less than $15 million to implement, and according to Duke, it’s merely a piece of a $600 million investment plan to bring 375 MW of total energy storage across its service area.

Additionally, the company has installed a solar plus storage microgrid on top of Mount Sterling in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that will serve as a remote emergency communications tower. Other planned battery projects include a 4 MW lithium-ion battery system in Hot Springs, North Carolina, which will assist electric reliability and other services for the town, and a 5 MW lithium-ion battery at the Anderson County Civic Center, a local emergency shelter, to act as backup power for the facility.

“We have a long history of testing new battery technologies with a number of battery manufacturers,” De May said. “Our research work is now paying off with larger projects that will provide customers more reliable service with lower overall emissions.”