Duke Energy activated the Hot Springs microgrid, which is a 4.4 MW lithium-ion battery energy storage system combined with a 2 MW solar power array, in a small town in North Carolina.
The microgrid supports the local power grid cost effectively and reliability, according to Duke Energy, and will also deliver benefits to the bulk power delivery system.
Benefits will include reliability services to the electric grid, such as frequency and voltage regulation and ramping support and capacity during system peaks.
Hot Springs, with a population of just over 500, has limited rerouting options should an outage occur. During its testing phase, Duke Energy’s microgrid was able to pick up the town’s entire load from a black start without any help from the energy grid – using only the solar and battery storage to restore power. The microgrid served the town’s load while the company gathered data.
Duke Energy worked with the technology company Wärtsilä, who supplied the battery energy storage system for the project.
The microgrid uses Wärtsilä’s sophisticated energy management system, the GEMS Digital Energy Platform, for integrated control of both the solar and energy storage facilities.
Duke Energy has been active with microgrids and battery storage, with over 60 MW connected throughout Duke Energy’s regulated areas.
In Asheville, Duke Energy operates a 9-MW lithium-ion battery system at a substation site in the Rock Hill community – near Sweeten Creek Road. In Haywood County, the company has a 3.8-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery and 10-kilowatt solar DC microgrid installation serving a communications tower on Mount Sterling in the Smoky Mountains National Park.
