ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. — Duke Energy has started commercial operation of what is touted as North Carolina's largest battery system, which is working alongside a solar panel facility adjacent to it.
The utility provider announced Thursday that the 11-megawatt battery in Onslow County will operate in conjunction with the 13-megawatt solar facility, which has been generating energy since 2015. Both sites, located on a leased site within Camp Lejeune, can also operate independently.
“Battery storage is an important resource for our transition to cleaner energy,” said Kendal Bowman, the company's North Carolina state president. “Pairing the energy storage system with our existing solar facility at Camp Lejeune helps strengthen the reliability of our energy grid and makes better use of our existing solar generation.”
The company said both the solar site and the battery enable the most efficient and reliable use of renewable resources. Both are connected to a substation used to serve Duke Energy Progress customers, and future work could improve Camp Lejeune's resiliency against power outages.
“Through an enhanced use lease (EUL) and strategic partnership with Duke Energy Progress, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune has been able to make an important investment in the pursuit of energy security inside the fence-line,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Ross Campbell, director of Public Works on base. “Integration of the solar plant with a battery energy storage system, unthinkable a decade ago, presents the installation with a number of opportunities to achieve energy resilience objectives. These systems are part of the ongoing collaboration with the Department of Defense and its utility providers to ensure energy security at federal facilities."
The battery has a physical footprint of about one acre in size and has a lithium iron phosphate chemistry.
Similar batteries have been set up elsewhere in the Tar Heel State. Asheville is home to a 9-megawatt facility that operates next to a substation in the Shiloh community, while a 4-megawatt battery in Madison County serves a microgrid in the town of Hot Springs.
Duke Energy says expanding battery power storage is part of a larger transition to clean energy across the country, along with solar and wind generation investments. The utility plans to keep investing in battery technology over the course of the next few years.
The company plans to have more than 1,600 megawatts of battery storage online by 2029. Right now, Duke Energy's regulated utilities have about 90 megawatts of battery energy storage projects operating in three states.
Duke Energy serves more than 8.2 million customers in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Ohio, and Kentucky.