Minnesota Wind Farm Make First Experiment With Energy Storage!

Southwest Minnesota has been at the forefront of wind energy since turbines began sprouting on Buffalo Ridge in the late 1990s.
Developers therefore, are looking to alternatives to capture energy during peak hours and release it when needed. Now it appears a wind farm in southwest Minnesota will be one of the first to experiment with this idea; employing the use of two 80-ton tractor-trailer size batteries to provide power to over 500 homes for seven hours when the wind isn’t blowing.
For the next year or two, they will be used to see whether battery storage can be an integral part of a wind farm's power production and whether storing wind-generated electricity in batteries works as an effective shock absorber to smooth out the variable power potential between windy days and calm ones, according to Frank Novachek, Xcel Energy director of corporate planning.

Xcel officials also will try to determine if stored electricity from the wind farm can help reduce cycling throughout the Xcel Energy system.

If it turns out these batteries can store enough electricity to use the electricity on the peaks when the demand is highest and the wind is not blowing, that really is a game changer. If they can do that cost effectively, it could spur the development of renewable energy even beyond the 20 to 25 percent most people now think we could integrate onto the grid.

Beyond massive batteries, there are also plans in motion to store wind energy underground in massive chambers When the grid demands more, these chambers would release their pressurized air into a turbine which would then generate electricity. Iowa is looking to make this a reality by 2011.

Obviously, this is highly dependent on geography to even be practical; which might make giant battery trailers that much more effective for wind farms all around the world.