STORING WIND IN BATTERIES

Wind Turbines, Batteries Included
Jeff St. John, March 2, 2009 (Greentech Media)

"…Japan Steel Works is aiming to ease [the integrating of wind into the grid]…by building wind turbines with batteries included in them…The maker of steel products including nuclear plant pressure vessels plans to start selling the turbines, built in conjunction with battery manufacturer Meidensha Corp. next year…

"Whether the added cost — as much as twice that of conventional wind turbines — will make it worthwhile remains to be seen. But the two Japanese companies are hardly alone in seeking ways to store wind power, whether to better integrate it into the grid moment-by-moment or store it for use at peak electricity demand times."

Wind-sized battery storage. (click to enlarge)

"American Superconductor Corp. (NSDQ: AMSC) makes D-VAR devices that stabilize voltages from wind turbines to better integrate their power into the grid. The company also licenses its wind turbine designs to customers that build them, many in China…

"Ultracapacitors can serve in place of batteries to smooth wind power going to the grid. Maxwell Technologies has sold ultracapacitor systems to provide backup power for wind turbine blade pitch control systems built by Germany’s LTi REEnergy.

"As for large-scale wind power storage, methods include long-term standbys like pumped hydroelectric power to capturing energy as compressed air in underground caverns, as well as batteries, flywheels and superconducting magnetic storage…The Iowa Stored Energy Park, a project created by a group of the state’s municipal utilities, is seeking to prove that compressed air can serve as a reliable backup to wind power…"

Compressed air energy storage. (click to enlarge)

"Others are using sodium-sulfur batteries for wind power storage…Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) is testing a system to store power from an 11-megawatt wind farm in Luverne, Minn. using a 1-megawatt, sodium-sulfur battery capable of holding 7.2 megawatt-hours of energy from Japanese company NGK Insulators...American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) installed 6 megawatts of NGK’s batteries in 2007 to support its wind operations, at a cost of $27 million. Tokyo Electric Power Co., which partnered with NGK to develop its batteries, got the ball rolling in 2001 with two 6-megawatt storage systems in Japan.

"As for other battery technologies, Hopkinton, Mass.-based lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems said in June it would develop batteries for utilities to help stabilize the grid. "