Grid Energy Storage News

Duke Energy intends to store electricity generated at its Notrees Windpower Project in west Texas using an energy storage and power management system developed by Austin-based Xtreme Power.

In November 2009, Duke Energy announced plans to match a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to install large-scale batteries capable of storing electricity produced by the company’s 153-megawatt (MW) Notrees wind farm, located in Ector and Winkler counties. After due diligence, Duke Energy chose Xtreme Power (www.xtremepower.com) to design, install and operate a 36 MW-capacity Dynamic Power Resource™ system at the wind farm. When complete, the battery storage system will be one of the largest of its kind in the world.

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One knock against wind power is that it’s unreliable because of its variable nature. But it need not be that way say engineers at Xtreme Power Inc. The company manufacturers Dynamic Power Resources (DPRs), utility-scale energy-storage systems with power management. The company recently announced it has been selected to provide power for First Wind’s Kaheawa Wind Power II (KWP II) project on Maui. The 21 MW farm will use a 10 MW DPR (20 MWh) from Xtreme Power, its fifth in Hawaii. The DPR at the KWP II site will rapidly respond to differences between the farm’s output and needs of the Maui grid, absorbing or delivering power as needed to reduce the variability inherent to renewable energy sourcesUtility typically carry online capacity to serve loads in excess 15 to 20% of actual loads. This typically has been done with generators.

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