to a less carbon intensive power grid. ( OK , they see $ and in this case it’s a win win).
https://www.citizen-times.com/story...million-battery-storage-carolinas/1601679002/
Operation of the facility is expected to generate "no emission or pollutants," the company's filing shows.
The Hot Springs Microgrid facilities are part of Duke Energy's ongoing Western Carolinas Modernization Project, which also includes closing its coal-fired power plant in Asheville in 2019 in favor of a "cleaner natural gas-fired plant and distributed energy resources," the company said.
Benefits of battery power
Brownie Newman, chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, said Thursday there primarily are two "high-level benefits" to Duke's investment in grid-level battery storage in the region. Newman, who sits on the Energy Innovation Task Force, a joint initiative of the city, county and Duke Energy Progress, said storage offsets the need for a previously planned national gas "peaker" plant at Duke's Lake Julian facility.
The other, he said, is it allows for increasing amounts of renewable energy to be integrated into the electrical grid.
"If you want to have a lot of renewable energy and meet demands through the course of the day and the evening when customers need it, you’ll need to be able to store that power and release it when it’s needed," he said.
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Awesome! This type of facility will help bridge the peaks and lows of our increasing production of renewables, while Hot Springs can certainly benefit from the few jobs this facility will provide, and land costs there are well below those in much of the region. I am glad to see them back off of the peak gas plant proposed at the old coal plant site at Lake Julian, which is in a densely populated area.
https://www.citizen-times.com/story...million-battery-storage-carolinas/1601679002/
Operation of the facility is expected to generate "no emission or pollutants," the company's filing shows.
The Hot Springs Microgrid facilities are part of Duke Energy's ongoing Western Carolinas Modernization Project, which also includes closing its coal-fired power plant in Asheville in 2019 in favor of a "cleaner natural gas-fired plant and distributed energy resources," the company said.
Benefits of battery power
Brownie Newman, chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, said Thursday there primarily are two "high-level benefits" to Duke's investment in grid-level battery storage in the region. Newman, who sits on the Energy Innovation Task Force, a joint initiative of the city, county and Duke Energy Progress, said storage offsets the need for a previously planned national gas "peaker" plant at Duke's Lake Julian facility.
The other, he said, is it allows for increasing amounts of renewable energy to be integrated into the electrical grid.
"If you want to have a lot of renewable energy and meet demands through the course of the day and the evening when customers need it, you’ll need to be able to store that power and release it when it’s needed," he said.
—————————
Awesome! This type of facility will help bridge the peaks and lows of our increasing production of renewables, while Hot Springs can certainly benefit from the few jobs this facility will provide, and land costs there are well below those in much of the region. I am glad to see them back off of the peak gas plant proposed at the old coal plant site at Lake Julian, which is in a densely populated area.
