Did Duke Energy Just Change the Game for Community Microgrids?

Source: Elisa Wood | · MICROGRID KNOWLEDGE · | February 6, 2023

In Hot Springs, North Carolina, the utility took a significant step in advancing community microgrids that rely on no fossil fuel resources.

Source: Microgrid for Hot Springs, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Duke Energy.

Duke Energy received a lot of attention last week for powering an entire town — Hot Springs, North Carolina — with a microgrid. But the project’s real significance may lie in demonstrating a technology breakthrough that could open a new door to green energy for other communities.

First, some background. A remote mountain town of about 500-600 people, Hot Springs, gets power from the electric grid via a 10-mile, 22.86 kV feeder prone to extended outages.

Duke Energy — the town’s utility — considered building a second feeder line to fix the problem but determined that a microgrid made more sense because, unlike a new line, the microgrid would not disrupt miles of scenic and environmentally sensitive terrain. The North Carolina Utilities Commission agreed and approved the microgrid in 2019.

Hot Springs Microgrid at a Glance

• 2 MW alternating current solar

• 4.4 MW lithium-based battery storage

• GEMS Digital Energy Platform by Wärtsilä

• Acts as backup to the 10-mile distribution feeder line

• Provides reliability services to the electric grid, such as frequency and voltage regulation and ramping support and capacity during system peaks.

What Duke was trying to do technologically — the breakthrough — had worked in lab settings but never before in a commercial microgrid, as far as Duke could discern. The complexity of the Hot Springs project, combined with Covid-related supply chain disruptions, led to a slow, four-year build-out of the microgrid.