- Tropical Storm Erin forms, will track west across Atlantic in coming days
- Tropical Storm Erin forms in the Atlantic and Hurricane Henriette strengthens in the Pacific
- After Hill Country floods, families face a difficult question: Rebuild, or let go?
- San Antonio River Authority has a new plan to prevent flash flooding deaths. Will Texas fund it?
- NC DOT wins national award for exceptional coordination during Hurricane Helene
Duke Energy showcases advanced grid technology ahead of hurricane season
Duke’s Power Distribution Center in Charlotte uses high-tech workstations to manage line crews across the Carolinas and restore power without human intervention.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke Energy is highlighting new technology and grid improvements designed to keep power flowing during major storms as the 2025 hurricane season officially gets underway.
The utility opened its Power Distribution Control Center in Charlotte to demonstrate how operators use high-tech workstations to manage line crews across the Carolinas and deploy automated systems that can restore power without human intervention.
“This facility really is a powerful player in helping to restore your power faster when an outage occurs,” Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said.
The control center serves as the command hub for power restoration efforts throughout the region. When customers see utility crews working on power lines, those operations are coordinated from this Charlotte facility.
“If you see a bucket truck up in the air working on a power outage, it’s being managed from this facility,” Brooks said.
The center’s most significant advancement is what Duke Energy calls “self-healing technology,” automated systems that can detect outages and automatically reroute power to restore service.
“This advanced capability allows us to automatically detect a power outage and reroute power to other lines to help restore service faster for customers,” Brooks explained.
Duke Energy has more than doubled the number of customers served by this self-healing technology, expanding coverage from approximately 1.2 million to 2.4 million customers across its service area.
Laura Weigel, a distribution control center operator, said the technology played a crucial role during Hurricane Helene last year by helping crews respond more quickly to outages.
“Our technology says, ‘Oh, well, this device is out, which has caused the loss of your power, and it looks like something happened in this area.’ So we’re able to get them out there a little faster, if they have an idea of what’s going on,” Weigel said.
The self-healing technology helped avoid more than 1 million customer outages across North Carolina in 2024, according to Duke Energy.
Beyond the automated systems, Duke Energy has completed hundreds of physical grid strengthening projects across the state, including burying power lines in vulnerable areas and replacing aging equipment.
Company officials say these improvements should result in fewer outages and faster restoration times when power disruptions do occur during severe weather events.
For Weigel, the work has personal meaning beyond the technical aspects.
“Like everybody’s had a power outage, it’s not fun,” she said. “Just knowing that I’m able to help get that back on, helps people’s day go on a little better once they have that back.”
Contact Myles Harris at mharris5@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.