DELIVERING STORAGE MANAGEMENT FOR XCEL ENERGY

GridPoint’s Storage Management software is currently involved in controlling the flow of electricity between the grid and a NGK one-megawatt sodium-sulfur battery deployed in Xcel Energy’s Wind-to-Battery project.

Based on system regulation and pricing signals, GridPoint software is adaptively managing the battery’s charging behavior. For example, when demand for electricity is high, stored wind energy is automatically discharged to the grid, supplementing the power flow. When demand is low, the storage application issues commands for the battery to store available energy.

When fully charged, the one-megawatt battery will hold approximately 7.2 megawatt-hours of electricity, potentially powering 500 homes for over 7 hours. This is the first US application of the battery as a direct wind energy storage device.