EcoGeek - Clean Technology: "With the rise of wind power, many critics have focused on its unreliability and how there's no efficient storage available. Other companies have worked on making the turbines themselves more efficient, but so far there hasn't been a low cost storage solution. Xcel Energy is hoping that their 'Wind-to-Battery' project holds that solution.
The company is testing an 80-ton sodium-sulfur battery on a Minnesota wind farm and believes that it can power 500 homes for seven hours when fully charged. The battery consists of 20 50-KW modules that are together the size of two tractor trailers and can store 7.2 MWh.
The project is the first in the country to test the storage of wind power and while 500 homes isn't even a dent in the amount of homes that would need to be powered, it will give the company a good indication of how this type of storage could be expanded if the test is successful."
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