Duke Energy announced it is planning to install battery storage equipment and solar panels that will operate as a microgrid at the Indiana National Guard’s Camp Atterbury training operation in Johnson County, Ind.
Upon approval of the project, the microgrid at Camp Atterbury would be the first microgrid installed at a National Guard facility in Indiana.
“Given our recent success with the installation of a 17-megawatt solar power plant at Naval Support Activity Crane, we were eager to find another opportunity to join with the U.S. military to incorporate new technology into our grid operations,” said Melody Birmingham-Byrd, Duke Energy Indiana state president.
“The project at Camp Atterbury will help us gain valuable operating experience and may help determine how best to expand the new technology to other areas,” Birmingham-Byrd added.
“Camp Atterbury, the Indiana National Guard and Duke Energy have worked together on several mutually beneficial projects over the years,” said Col. John Silva, Camp Atterbury’s commanding officer. “This proposed project will increase our strategic value and give us the ability to continue our mission-critical operations in the unlikely event of a large grid outage.”
At Camp Atterbury, the battery and solar panels will primarily provide grid benefits to customers in the region. In the unlikely event of a major grid failure, the microgrid could continue serving customer power demand. The storage battery has a capacity of 5 megawatts. The solar installation will generate approximately 2 megawatts.
At the Nabb, Ind., substation, a similar-size battery will be installed near the existing substation. This battery will also be used to provide grid benefits as well as back-up customer power in the event of an outage.
Rajani Baburajan