When fully charged, the 1MW battery will hold approximately 7.2MWh of electricity, potentially powering 500 homes for over seven hours.
The GridPoint platform applies IT 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, 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.
The project will take place in Luverne, Minnesota, about 30 miles east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, adjacent and connected to the nearby 11MW wind farm owned by Minwind Energy. The S&C Electric Company will install the battery and all associated interconnection components. The battery is expected to go on-line in January 2009.
