By Alex Felsinger •
November 18, 2008
For the first time in America, a company has developed an efficient battery solution to storing wind power, a clear answer to critics who claim turbines are unreliable.
Xcel Energy’s “Wind-to-Battery” project is currently being tested on a Minnesota wind farm. The company believes that the 80-ton battery will power 500 homes for 7 hours when fully charged. The battery’s 20 50-kilowatt modules together are roughly the size of two semi- trailers and can store 7.2 megawatt-hours of electricity.
By Andrew Williams •
August 21, 2008
State regulators in Colorado have given the green light to plans by Xcel Energy to shut down two coal-powered energy plants in the state, and build one of the world’s largest utility-scale solar-power facilities.
This is exciting stuff: Xcel Energy is going to test 80-ton batteries the size of two semi-trailers to capture the power generated from its wind turbines.
The utility is testing 20 such batteries with an 11-megawatt wind farm in southwestern Minnesota. There’s a test phase set for this spring and then the batteries are expected to go online in October.
The challenge with wind power, explained an Xcel Energy representative, [...]
