Duke Energy builds North Carolina’s largest battery project at Marine base

Duke Energy has begun commercial operation of the North Carolina’s largest battery system, an 11-MW project in Onslow County.

The battery system will operate in conjunction with an adjacent 13-MW solar facility located on a leased site within Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, which has been generating carbon-free energy since 2015. The two sites can also be operated independently.

“Battery storage is an important resource for our transition to cleaner energy,” said Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy’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.”

Both projects are connected to a Duke Energy substation and will be used to serve Duke Energy Progress customers.

“Through an enhanced use lease 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 at MCB Camp Lejeune. “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’s chemistry is lithium iron phosphate with the system rated at 11-MW/11-MWh, and its physical footprint is about 1 acre. Duke Energy partnered with Black & Veatch construction entity OCI, which was the primary contractor for engineering, procurement and construction on the project.

In recent years, Duke Energy has been expanding battery storage in North Carolina. In the city of Asheville, a 9-MW lithium-ion battery system is operating next to a Duke Energy substation in the Shiloh community. In Madison County in the town of Hot Springs, the company has a 4-MW lithium-ion battery system that is part of a microgrid in the town.

Duke Energy expects to have more than 1,600 MW of battery storage in service by 2029. Currently, the company’s regulated utilities have about 90 MW of battery energy storage projects in operation in three states.

News item from Duke Energy