Duke energy pumped storage hydro

How does Duke Energy utilize pumped storage?

Duke Energy utilizes pumped storage through its two plants – Jocassee and Bad Creek. Pumped storage can be employed to capture unused electricity during times of low use. It also helps in keeping Duke Energy's coal-fired and nuclear plants running longer and more efficiently.

What is a pumped storage hydro plant?

A flexible, dynamic, efficient and green way to store and deliver large quantities of energy, pumped storage hydro plants store and generate energy by moving water between two reservoirs at different elevations.

Where does Duke Energy's Water come from?

The water sits in Duke Energy’s Bad Creek pump storage facility. The facility generates and stores energy by moving water back and forth between two reservoirs located at different elevations. It can supply carbon-free energy to more than 1.3 million homes when needed.

Where is Duke Energy's largest hydro plant?

Inside a mountain beside South Carolina’s Lake Jocassee, Duke Energy’s largest hydro plant is growing. Workers at Bad Creek Hydroelectric Station began disassembling the plant in January to install new equipment, including massive spherical valves and...

Will Duke build a second pump storage facility?

Bad Creek is Duke’s second pump storage facility – the nearby Jocassee Hydroelectric Station was completed in 1975. If Duke decides to proceed with the expansion, it could be online by 2034. A timeline of the proposed project is available on Duke's website.

What time did Duke hydro pump water in May 2024?

Duke General Hydro Manager Preston Pierce shows the upper and lower reservoirs at the Bad Creek pumped storage facility in May 2024. At a tour of the facility in May, Hydro General Manager Preston Pierce said the facility was pumping water until about 10 a.m.