Efficiently storing electricity produced by renewable energy sources is rapidly becoming a reality. Duke Energy has announced further details of a major renewable energy electricity storage project for its Notrees Windpower Project in west Texas.
Xtreme Power will provide its Dynamic Power Resource technology at the 153-megawatt (MW) Notrees wind farm; storing excess wind energy and supplying it to the grid whenever demand for electricity is at its peak – even during calm conditions when the wind turbines aren’t operating.
The company will design, install and operate a 36 MW-capacity system at the wind farm
Dynamic Power Resource consists of two elements. One is Xtreme Power’s PowerCell; a 12 volt, 1 kWh, dry cell deep cycle battery technology. The design of PowerCell allows for thousands of the units to be assembled into large arrays, providing tens of megawatts of power. The company says the internal resistance provides up to 98% efficiency and the ability to rapidly charge and discharge large amounts of electricity.
The other aspect of Dynamic Power Resource is a series of micro-second controls and high-efficiency electronics designed to address intermittency and variability challenges facing utilities that generate electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar power and export it to the mains grid.
Duke Energy will be matching a USD$22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to install the large-scale battery system. The project will not only benefit its own stakeholders, but also the entire renewable energy industry; as results from the storage project will be shared publicly through the DOE’s Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse.
The massive battery storage system is expected to be operational by late 2012.
Duke Energy’s commercial renewable assets includes nine wind farms and four solar farms in operation in five U.S. states, representing approximately 1,000 megawatts in renewables capacity.
Xtreme Power is also executing a solar related project for Ford, at its hybrid electric vehicle factory in Michigan.
