Pumped Storage Hydro

New Duke Energy resource plan updates on Bad Creek pumped storage expansion plan

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New Duke Energy resource plan updates on Bad Creek pumped storage expansion plan

Duke Energy has released its 2023 Carolinas Resource Plan, which says the company plans to extend the operating license for the Bad Creek pumped storage project and essentially double the capacity of the site.

Calling this Bad Creek II, the plan indicates it will have a capacity of 1,700 MW.

The plan said Bad Creek II Pumped Storage Hydro is projected to come into service by mid-2033. For planning purposes, the modeling reflects this resource coming into all resource  portfolios at the beginning of 2034.

Activities through 2023 to achieve this end include interconnection request, equipment proposals, construction estimates and federal license activities. Near-term actions include South Carolina Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Convenience and Necessity in 2024 and file North Carolina Out of State CPCN and file federal license application in 2025 and 2026, per the plan.

Duke Energy also said it is aggressively pursuing federal funds under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that support grid resilience, long duration energy storage and hydroelectric production incentives that could be used at the 1,065 MW Bad Creek pumped hydro station.

The Bad Creek pumped storage facility, on Bad Creek and West Bad Creek in Oconee County, S.C., began operating in 1991. It consists of a 367-acre upper reservoir with a storage capacity of 33,900 acre-feet, a rockfill impervious core dams with crest elevation at 2,315 feet msl across Bad Creek and West Bad Creek, an ungated water intake structure in the upper reservoir, a main shaft and power tunnel 5,026 feet long connecting to four penstocks about 386 feet long, an underground powerhouse, four concrete-lined draft tube tunnels about 316 feet long, and an intake/outlet structure in the lower reservoir (Lake Jocassee). The powerhouse contains four Francis-type pump-turbines.

Duke Energy’s electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 MW of energy capacity. This includes hydropower and the Bad Creek pumped storage project.