By Stephen Nakrosis 



  Duke Energy Florida said Tuesday it plans to add three battery energy storage sites totaling nearly 30MW which will "enhance power quality, reliability and critical services during outages." 


  The utility said an 18MW lithium battery site will be built at its 45MW Lake Placid Solar Power Plant, while an 8.25MW site will be located southwest of Gainesville in Alachua County. The third facility, a 3.5MW solar plus storage microgrid site, will be added at Pinellas County's John Hopkins Middle School, the company said. 


  The sites are expected to be completed by the end of next year, the company said. 


  "Batteries are an exciting technology that allows us to bring more renewables onto the grid and support resiliency in our communities," said Catherine Stempien, Duke Energy Florida state president. "These projects help us determine the best uses so that when battery storage technology becomes even more cost-competitive, as it is projected to do, we can deploy them quickly for the benefit of our customers." 


  As part of its commitment to renewables, the company said, it will invest an estimated $1 billion "to construct or acquire a total of 700MW of cost-effective solar power facilities and 50 MW of battery storage through 2022." 


  Duke Energy Florida also said its is "investing in transportation electrification to support the growing U.S. adoption of electric vehicles." 


  Duke Energy Florida is a subsidiary of Duke Energy and serves about 1.8 million customers. 


  Write to Stephen Nakrosis at stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com