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Duke to Build Energy-Storage System at Shuttered Ohio Coal Plant

Duke Energy Corp., the largest U.S. utility owner by market value, agreed to build a battery-based energy-storage system at a shuttered coal plant in Ohio with LG Chem Ltd. and Greensmith Energy Management Systems LLC.

The 2-megawatt project can deliver power in seconds and will “enhance reliability and increase stability” on the grid, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said Tuesday in a statement. LG Chem will provide the operating system and batteries, while Greensmith will supply software and grid-integration services. Terms were not disclosed.

The project, which will be built at the site of Duke’s retired W.C. Beckjord coal plant in New Richmond, is expected to open later this year and will complement a separate 2-megawatt storage system already in place. PJM Interconnection LLC, which runs the biggest U.S. power market, will use the batteries to help manage the electricity grid. Duke said it owns about 15 percent of the nation’s battery-backed, grid-connected storage capacity.

The systems “can instantaneously absorb excess energy from the grid or release energy,” Phil Grigsby, Duke’s vice president of commercial transmission, said in the statement. “Delivering that power in seconds, as opposed to a power plant that could take 10 minutes or more to ramp up, is the unique value the battery system provides.”

source: http://www.bloomberg.com