Xcel Energy to store wind power with new battery

Xcel Energy to store wind power with new battery

Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:30pm EST

By Nichola Groom

LOS ANGELES, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Utility company Xcel Energy (XEL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it will begin testing a battery to store wind energy so it can be distributed consistently, no matter if the wind comes in strong gales or light breezes.

The one-megawatt (MW) battery, when fully charged, could power 500 homes for over 7 hours, Xcel said.

"We are going to use it to shape the output of the wind farm," Xcel Director of Corporate Planning Frank Novacheck said in an interview, adding the battery would serve as a sort of "shock absorber" that will charge when the wind blows and supplement power flows when there is little or no wind.

Wind generation in the United States has been growing at a rapid pace as utilities seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in some cases because states are requiring more renewable power.

...

At least at this stage, saving money by storing a windmill’s production for peak-price hours will be difficult. The cost is very high, $27 million for six megawatts of capacity, or about $4,500 a kilowatt, including the price of substation improvements. Building a gas turbine of that size to meet peak needs would cost substantially less. But the battery system would be able to store power made from wind, a form of generation that does not produce any carbon dioxide.

The batteries can each deliver one megawatt of power — enough to run a medium-size shopping center — for a little more than seven hours. Replenished nightly, they give back about 80 percent of the electricity put into them. Each is the size of a double-decker bus, and installation is not permanent; they can be moved to another site as the need arises.

The batteries will be built by NGK Insulators Ltd. of Japan. They use a sodium sulfur chemistry and operate at temperatures of more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

U of M teams up with Xcel Energy in groundbreaking wind-to-battery project

Contacts: Todd Reubold, Initative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, (612) 624-6140, reub0002@umn.edu

Luisa Badaracco, University News Service, (612) 624-1690, luisab@umn.edu

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL ( 2/29/2008 ) -- Xcel Energy, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Great Plains Institute, will soon begin testing a cutting-edge technology to store wind energy in batteries.

The research partners will test a one-megawatt battery storage technology to demonstrate its ability to store wind energy and move it to the electricity grid when needed. Fully charged, the battery could power 500 homes for six and one-half hours. Xcel Energy will purchase a sodium-sulfur battery from NGK Insulators, Ltd. that will be an integral part of the project.

"Energy storage is key to expanding the use of renewable energy," said Dick Kelly, Xcel Energy chairman, president and CEO. "This technology has the potential to reduce the impact caused by the variability and limited predictability of wind energy generation."

The 50-kilowatt battery modules, 20 in total, will be roughly the size of two semi trailers and weigh approximately 60 tons. They will be able to store about 6.5 megawatt-hours of electricity, with a charge/discharge capacity of one megawatt. When the wind blows, the batteries are charged. When the wind calms down, the batteries supplement the power flow.

...

Beacon recently completed the first phase of its manufacturing facility build-out in its new facility in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, which will allow production of up to 600 flywheels per year. The Company has plans for a phase two build-out, with an annual production capacity exceeding 1,000 units.

...

The Company is aggressively pursuing the required interconnection processes in New York. There have been hearings in the local community regarding the necessary building and environmental permits, and the process is moving forward as expected. The revised schedule is that five to ten megawatts of capacity will be in place in New York by the end of 2008, and the plant would reach its full 20-megawatt capacity in the first half of 2009.