April 29 (Reuters) - Electric utility Duke Energy ( DUK )

said on Monday it completed upgrades at the Bad Creek

pumped storage facility in South Carolina, that in totality adds

320 megawatts of carbon-free energy to the company's system to

meet growing regional demand.

This brings the total capacity of the station to 1,680

megawatts, which can power more than 1.3 million homes, the

company said in a press release.

Pumped storage hydro plants store and generate energy by

moving water between two reservoirs at different elevations.

"Pumped storage technology gives operational flexibility,

allowing to store energy and then deploy that energy when

customer demand is highest," the company's executive vice

president and chief generation officer Preston Gillespie said.

The company said it is currently working to extend the

license of the Bad Creek pumped hydro storage facility, which is

set to expire in 2027, while also evaluating the potential to

add a second powerhouse at Bad Creek, which if pursued could be

in service as earlier as 2034.

(Reporting by Harshit Verma in Bengaluru)