From CEN Tech Editors

ARLINGTON - Xcel Energy is using energy software from GridPoint to control the flow of power between the grid and a NGK Insulators’ sodium-sulfur battery storing wind energy. When fully charged, the one-megawatt battery will hold approximately 7.2 megawatt-hours of electricity, potentially powering 500 homes for over seven hours. This is the first U.S. application of the battery as a direct wind energy storage device.

The project will take place in Luverne, Minnesota, adjacent and connected to the nearby 11-megawatt 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 next month.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, Grid Point produces smart grid software that can benefit electric utilities, consumers and the environment. 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. It will allow Xcel Energy to explore using real-time grid conditions and energy pricing to determine when the battery charges or discharges.

Based on system regulation and pricing signals received by the software platform, the battery’s charging behavior will be adaptively controlled. When the demand for electricity is high, as an example, stored wind energy could be automatically discharged to the grid, supplementing the power flow. When demand is low, the software platform could issue commands for the battery to store the available energy.

“Dispatching stored energy according to the real-time needs of the grid is essential to increasing our use of renewable energy,” said Frank Novachek, Xcel Energy’s director of corporate planning. “Incorporating GridPoint’s software in the wind-to-battery project is in line with our ongoing efforts to modernize and upgrade the grid to allow easier integration of variable renewable energy sources.”

GridPoint’s software platform will also be logging performance data from the battery and associated metering equipment for analysis by the University of Minnesota, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Great Plains Institute

In addition to the Minnesota project, GridPoint’s software platform is featured in the first SmartGridCity home, the University of Colorado’s Chancellor’s Residence, where its software platform provides Xcel Energy with a single interface to manage a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, solar panels, advanced storage technologies and household devices such as thermostats. Additionally, the GridPoint platform provides the Chancellor’s family with online energy management to automatically control energy consumption according to their preferences, track solar production and view environmental data about their conservation efforts.

More information is available at http://gridpoint.com.