Tech Digest

U of M teams up with Xcel Energy in pioneering wind-to-energy project

UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS are working with Xcel Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Great Plains Institute to begin testing emerging technology to store wind energy in batteries.

Integrating variable wind and solar power production with the needs of the power grid is an ongoing issue for the utility industry.

The research partners will begin testing a one-megawatt battery-storage technology to demonstrate its ability to store wind energy and move it to the electricity grid when needed. Fully charged, the battery could power 500 homes for more than six hours.

“This project is important in determining the feasibility of using chemical batteries to store electricity,” said Ned Mohan, professor of electrical and computer engineering and research collaborator. Mohan’s group is conducting related research on storing energy in flywheels.

The 50-kilowatt battery modules, about the size of two semitrailers and weighing approximately 60 tons, will be able to store about 6.5 megawatt-hours of electricity. When the wind blows, the batteries will charge, and when the wind diminishes, the batteries—which can discharge one megawatt of power—will supplement the flow of electricity.

Xcel plans to put 20 50-kilowatt batteries in Luverne, Minn., about 30 miles east of Sioux Falls, S.D., this spring and connect them to an 11-megawatt wind farm owned by Minwind Energy. The batteries are expected to go online in October.