GridPoint, Inc has announced that Xcel Energy selected GridPoint's software platform to control the flow of power between the grid and a NGK Insulators' sodium-sulfur battery storing wind energy.
When fully charged, the 1MW battery will hold approximately 7.2
megawatt-hours of electricity, potentially powering 500 homes for over
seven hours. This is the first US application of the battery as a
direct wind energy storage device. The GridPoint Platform applies
information technology to the electric grid to provide utilities with
an intelligent network of distributed energy resources that controls
load, stores energy and produces power. The project will take place in
Luverne, Minnesota., about 30 miles east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
adjacent and connected to the nearby 11MW wind farm owned by Minwind
Energy, LLC. S&C Electric Company will install the battery and all
associated interconnection components. The battery is expected to go
on-line in January 2009.
