Southern Company’s subsidiary Alabama Power is building the US state’s first utility-scale battery storage system (BESS) on a retired power plant site.
The seven-acre facility will be built on the former Plant Gorgas site in Walker County, which powered Alabama for more than 100 years.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The facility will store 150MW of electricity generated by other Alabama Power resources – enough to power 9,000 households.
It will be developed as a standalone system that will connect to and charge directly from the electric grid.
The lithium-ion phosphate batteries that make up the system will have a two-hour duration and will be able to recharge in just over two hours.
Construction begins in 2025 and will be completed by 2027.
Alabama Power chairman, president and CEO Jeff Peoples stated: “This facility will help Alabama Power understand how we can best use battery systems on our electric grid so that customers have power when they need it.
“The project honours Plant Gorgas’ legacy, which played a significant role in powering the state of Alabama since 1917.”
Alabama Power provides reliable, affordable electricity to 1.5 million customers across the state.
The company is the second largest electric utility within Southern Company, serving customers in the southern two-thirds of Alabama.
84,000 miles of power lines carry electricity to customers across the company’s 44,500-square-mile service territory.
