Xcel wind-to-battery test and Hawaii Wind Project

9.09.2010

Xcel wind-to-battery test and Hawaii Wind Project

Dear States Advancing Wind Members,

A couple wind deployment-storage items that may be of interest to you from DOE's State News Monthly Report.

Best,

Anne

Xcel Energy's Wind-to-Battery Test Shows Promise

August 11, 2010

In its quest to store wind energy and move it to the grid, Xcel Energy has reached a milestone in its preliminary tests of a one-megawatt (MW) battery-storage technology system, the company announced on August 3. The Wind-to-Battery Project showed it was possible to reduce the need to compensate for the variability of wind generation, Xcel Energy said. It is the first U.S. use of the sodium sulfur battery-storage technology as direct energy storage, according to Xcel Energy. The small demonstration project was part of the company's research into how to integrate unpredictable renewable energy into the grid. Begun in October 2008, the research is being conducted with a battery installation in Luverne, Minnesota, that is connected to a nearby 11-MW wind farm. Twenty 50-kilowatt battery modules in the demonstration weigh approximately 80 tons and are able to store about 7.2 megawatt-hours of electricity, with a charge/discharge capacity of one megawatt. Fully charged, the battery could power 500 homes for more than seven hours.

The preliminary test results indicate this technology can shift wind energy from off-peak to on-peak availability, and can support the regional electricity market by responding to real-time imbalances between generation and load. The system could provide voltage to the transmission grid, which would contribute to system reliability, according to Xcel Energy. Testing will continue to see how the battery system handles larger amounts of wind energy transfers to the grid. The next phase of the project will determine the potential cost effectiveness of the technology. A final report for the project, which received a $1 million grant from Xcel Energy's Renewable Development Fund, is expected in summer 2011. See the Xcel press release and the Wind-to-Battery report (PDF 2.94 MB). Download Adobe Reader.

DOE Closes $117 Million Loan Guarantee for Hawaii Wind Project

August 04, 2010

DOE announced on July 27 that it finalized a $117 million loan guarantee for Kahuku Wind Power, LLC, and its 30-megawatt (MW) Kahuku Wind Power project in Hawaii. The project includes the development of an innovative wind power plant that will supply electricity to approximately 7,700 households per year. According to company estimates, the project, located on Oahu's North Shore, will create more than 200 jobs on the island. The project will be the first to meet reliability requirements for wind and solar energy set by Hawaiian Electric Company, the only electric utility operating on Oahu.

The Kahuku project, which began construction in July, uses 12 2.5-MW Liberty wind turbine generators manufactured by Clipper Windpower and a 10-MW battery energy storage system that will modulate and smooth fluctuations in power output caused by changes in wind levels. First Wind Holdings, LLC, the project sponsor and an independent U.S.-based wind energy developer, successfully built and currently operates Hawaii's largest wind energy facility, the 30-MW Kaheawa Wind project on Maui, which generates 9% of the island's annual electricity needs. See press releases from DOE and First Wind, and the DOE Loan Guarantee Program Web site.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) publishes this summary of news stories posted the past month on the EERE State Activities & Partnerships Web site. EERE collects news stories dealing with state involvement in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects from EERE technology program Web sites, the State Energy Program, and EERE Network News.

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