SPRING LOADED.

• Author: Pressler, Alyssa
• Position: STATE WIDE: West

Storing energy in batteries, a technology that has entranced electric utilities for years, is getting closer to more widespread adoption as Duke Energy invests in small projects in Hot Springs and Asheville. The so-called microgrids would allow customers to access power for several hours during outages without waiting for reconnection to the utility's main grid.

Duke said in late October it expects to invest $500 million in battery-storage efforts over the next 15 years, totaling about 300 megawatts of power. Among its early investments are plans for a project in mountainous, remote Hot Springs that includes a 2-megawatt solar plant and 4-megawatt battery storage facility. The solar power could sustain the town 35 miles north of Asheville during service disruptions. Fewer than 600 people live in the Madison County town, which averages 42 inches of snow annually and experiences periodic outages.

"There's no way to reroute power to them if they lose power," Duke Energy spokesman Randy Wheeless says. "If [the battery] is needed, it will be able to isolate that community and keep it in power for about four to six hours. Then, in that period of time, we can likely get out and repair the power."

In early October, Hot Springs Mayor Sidney Harrison said the town is waiting for more...