North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives recently announced their plans to install battery energy storage in ten communities across rural North Carolina. 

The new installations will be sited at electric cooperative substations and will add local energy resources to the communities.

These batteries are engineered and constructed by FlexGen. FlexGen is the second largest energy storage technology company in the United States and leads designs that further the ongoing development of the energy industry. 

The ten new projects will provide 40 MWs of power and will be charged when demand is low. Once peak demand has been met, they will be discharged until further need.

This enhances electric reliability and provides cost savings throughout the lifetime of the batteries. 

Two of the ten battery installations will be located in Lillington associated with Central Electric and the other in Fayetteville with South River EMC.

The installations of the battery energy storage system will begin in early 2022, with activation to begin as soon as summer.

Each site will bring temporary construction jobs to the communities and enhance the resources for future investments. 

By monitoring and coordinating the distribution of resources, cooperatives can manage these resources across the state to maximize benefits.

“North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives continue to show their leadership and focus on delivering a more intelligent and reliable grid for members across the state,” said FlexGen CEO Kelcy Pegler. “The FlexGen team is thrilled to be delivering our best-in-class technology to provide more resilience and flexibility to our home state grid and consumers.”