Storing the Breeze: New Battery Might Make Wind Power More Reliable

Scientific American ^

[newbie2008]

Winter winds howl off the Dakota prairie through Minnesota, turning the 1,100 megawatts worth of wind turbines in Xcel Energy's system in that state. By 2020, the utility expects to more than triple that amount in a bid to avoid more polluting energy sources. But the wind doesn't always blow and, even worse, it often blows strongest when people aren't using much electricity, like late at night.

So Xcel Energy, Inc., has become one of the first utilities in the U.S. to install a giant battery system in an attempt to store some of that wind power for later. "Energy storage might help us get to the point where we can integrate wind better," says Frank Novachek, director of corporate planning for the Minneapolis-based utility with customers in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, the Dakotas, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin. "The overall cost of electricity might be lower by using energy storage."

[autumnraine]

They have had windmills for how many years and they are just NOW attempting to store the energy in batteries?

[HD1200]

Wow!

So somebody figured out we can store electricity in batteries to power the windmills when the wind isn’t blowing.

(sarcasm)

[Red Badger]

ping!.........

[Holicheese]

Doesn’t Obama have a connection to Xcel?

[Red Badger]

[MaxMax]

And how much coal/oil is needed to manufacture those batteries and deliver them.
Blowhard rats.

[Mogollon]

Wind power is one of the most polluting type of energy to the environment there is. Thousands and thousands of windmills all over the place with maintenance roads, to all will screw up the countryside forever. Liberal boondoggle in the extreme.

[truthguy]

I must have read about 500 articles promising wondrous new energy solutions. There are many whole web sites dedicates to all these new wonderful technologies.

One problem though. How come you never see all these new breakthroughs ever implemented on a large scale? Could it be that they don't work? One thing I've learned over the years is that you can do anything in a labratory enviroment. Putting a technology into real production is something completely different.

When someone demonstrates a workable, economical prototype then I'll start paying attention. Until such time this is just more Rube Goldberg.

[yorkie01]

After the shelflife of all of this junk, the enviro weenies can cordon it off and automatically convert it to a landfill waste site.

[saganite]

“1,100 megawatts worth of wind turbines”

Divided by 3 (turbines produce about 30% of their installed capacity) that means they have about 350 megawatts of power.

[Oldhunk]

Build a bunch of new nuclear power plants and forget about these idiotic windmills. Greenies have to be the dumbest people on earth.

[RightWhale]

Our local utility has a battery backup that runs the grid for about 1/2 second in case he intertie drops out. The utility itself serves as battery storage for these local intermittent generators. If you are off the grid, then worry about storage, otherwise use what is already available.

[Camel Joe]

They are also working on large storage tanks to house compressed air. When the wind is not blowing you can use the compressed air to drive a gas turbine. One day the wind may only power the compressor and the gas turbine will provide the electricity, or they may just compliment one another.

[Zeppelin]

They have had windmills for how many years and they are just NOW attempting to store the energy in batteries?

There are other forms of "batteries" that have been in use for years.

For example, they can use the excess electricity to power a pump that fills an elevated reservoir, and when more power is needed, they let the water flow back downhill and spin a water turbine.

Another approach is to run a compressor and store potential energy in the form of compressed air.

[thackney]

runs the grid for about 1/2 second

I believe it runs it for much longer than that.

ABB helps strengthen power supply in Alaska
http://www.abb.co.kr/cawp/seitp202/B62C8057301F33F9C1256D8F0024F938.aspx

The energy storage system’s 13,760 energy cells, with all four strings operational, are able to feed the power grid in an emergency with 40 MW of power for 6-7 minutes, or 27 MW of power for 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes is long enough to cover the time between a system disturbances and diesel-powered back- up generators being online.

[Camel Joe]

I live near some. They aren’t noisy, they don’t pollute either outside of their manufacture. An access road is a convenience not pollution. I wish you city folks would mind your own business and quit worrying about what some fella does on HIS OWN property. If you don’t like the view don’t look.

[RayChuang88]

Problem is, battery technology up till now to store the power generated by wind turbines couldn't store enough electricity to generate decent amounts of power when the wind dies down. But with the new ultracapacitor technology batteries using nanotech parts coming from the likes of EEStor (which just recently got their patent approved), we may finally reach the point such a battery array would be very useful for solar panel and wind turbine generators, providing power when the Sun has set and when wind conditions are low.

[autumnraine]

Now THAT would be great! Between solar and wind, you have a freestanding (energy wise) home!

[RightWhale]

Either the power clicks off and back on in 1/2 second, or it goes out and stays out. Blips occur frequently but not as bad as before the battery building came online a couple years ago.