Duke Energy to build power storage facility in SC as part of $500M battery plan

CHARLOTTE – Duke Energy Carolinas will build its first energy storage facility in South Carolina, the company said Monday.

The announcement is part of Duke’s plans to invest $500 million in battery storage projects over the next 15 years. The facility will be located in Anderson County.

“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,” said Michael Callahan, Duke Energy’s South Carolina president, in a press release.

The Anderson Civic Center, where the project will be based, is a hurricane evacuation center. Duke says batteries at the site will be able to power the center for at least 30 hours in the event of an outage.

The project is expected to be in service in early 2021. Competitive bidding for construction will begin once the final engineering study and lease agreement have been completed.

Duke Energy’s stock was trading at $95.08 this afternoon, down 89 cents per share.

This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media.