Xcel Energy releases results for Wind-to-Battery Project

Xcel Energy has released preliminary results from its wind-to-battery storage project in Minnesota, and the company is reporting that the technology works.

Integrating variable wind and solar power production with the needs of the power grid is an ongoing issue for the utility industry. In October 2008, Xcel Energy began testing a one-megawatt battery-storage technology to demonstrate its ability to store wind energy and move it to the electricity grid when needed. It is first use of the technology in the United States for direct wind energy storage.

Here are the results.

[Source & read more: Transmission & Distribution World]

China’s Smart Grid Boom

China has surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest energy user, according to Paris-based International Energy Agency. As a growing Chinese middle class demands cars and homes with modern appliances, it will continue to drive up China’s energy consumption.

Achieving greater energy efficiency has become a top priority of China’s leaders. According to China Daily, China’s state-owned State Grid Corp. plans to invest $586 million constructing smart grids that incorporate wind and solar energy, energy storage, energy transmission monitoring, intelligent substations, and smart meters.

[Source & read more: Forbes]

Electrovaya Added to Global Solactive Global Lithium Index

Electrovaya Inc., developer and manufacturer of proprietary Lithium Ion SuperPolymer(R) battery systems, today announced that it has been added to the Solactive Global Lithium Index.

Global X Funds has launched the first ever Lithium exchange traded fund on the NYSE Arca (ticker: LIT), which will passively track the Solactive Global Lithium Index. Inclusion within the Solactive Global Lithium Index is based on strict requirements of market capitalization, liquidity, and lithium production and/or battery manufacturing focus. At launch, LIT’s basket was split nearly 50-50 between lithium producers and battery makers in seven different countries.

[Source & read more: MarketWatch]

VYCON Supplies 7MW Flywheel Capacity

VYCON, a designer and manufacturer of environmentally friendly, high-speed energy storage flywheel systems, today announced that it has just completed a 7MW shipment of its VDC-XE clean energy storage systems to a Northeast Fortune 500 company that specializes in large data storage applications and services for companies around the world. VYCON’s VDC-XE flywheel systems used with uninterruptible power systems (UPSs) will protect the data center’s myriad of storage servers against damaging and costly power interruptions.

Protecting servers against power problems is common in large data centers, however being able to do this in a more reliable and environmentally friendly way is getting the attention of organizations that want to institute green initiatives without sacrificing dependability. Traditionally, UPSs rely on lead-acid batteries to provide temporary power to keep servers running during a power disturbance. However, batteries can be problematic when it comes to reliability and require frequent testing, maintenance and replacement — not to mention that they contain toxic chemicals and lead, which require special handling and disposal.

[Source & read more: Marketwire]

ABB succeeds in acquiring 75% stake in Indian subsidiary

Leading power and automation technology group ABB today said its open offer to increase stake in its Indian subsidiary from 52.11 per cent to 75 per cent has been successful.

During the three-week offer period, which closed today, shareholders of ABB India tendered approximately 23 per cent of the outstanding shares, a press statement said.

The Swiss engineering firm ABB will acquire the shares on a proportionate basis since the offer has been oversubscribed by approximately 1.5 per cent, it said.

[Source & read more: Economic Times]

Energy Storage Player Xtreme Power Pulls In $29 Million

In a bet on the emerging market for what’s known as utility-scale energy storage, venture investors are putting $29.5 million into Xtreme Power, a young company out of Kyle, Texas. The series C round of funding brings total funds raised by Xtreme to around $50 million.

Xtreme Power’s energy storage technology was originally developed at Ford Motor for use in automobiles, but was shelved there. Xtreme picked up where the Ford engineers left off and has developed what is in essence a large-scale battery that can store energy from renewable sources like wind –which usually blows most at night when electricity needs are lowest. The intermittent nature of wind and solar power creates challenges for electric grid operators; these storage units can smooth the delivery of the energy to the grid.

[Source & read more: Forbes]

Recovery Act has created many jobs in clean energy

On Wednesday, July 14th, Vice President Joe Biden and Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) Chair Christina Romer released CEA’s new fourth quarterly report on the economic and job creation impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The report finds that the loan guarantees, grants, and clean energy investments made under the Recovery Act — matched by billions of dollars in private investment – are successfully creating jobs today and growing clean energy industries of tomorrow. CAP’s Susan Lyon has the story.

Vice President Joe Biden credited the Recovery Act for stimulating jobs and economic growth far beyond what it would have been otherwise:

We knew if we didn’t act and we didn’t act boldly, the best estimates were telling us that we would lose another 4 to 5 million jobs immediate — in that year. Well, we did act, and I stand before you today to say to you that…the economic initiatives we took, they are working.

[Source & read more: Climate Progress]

Compact Power’s Electric Car Power Plays

Compact Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Chem, is starting to look like the player to beat in the competition to supply lithium-ion cells and battery packs for electric vehicles, having bagged deals with General Motors, Eaton and Ford Motor.

Based in Troy, Mich., the company hosted President Obama this week at the groundbreaking of a new $300 million battery plant backed by the Department of Energy. What’s driving Compact Power’s momentum, and what will it take for competitors to turn the tide their way?

[Source & read more: earth2tech]

Beacon to develop flywheel energy-storage unit

Tyngsboro, Massachusetts-based Beacon Power has been selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a next-generation flywheel energy-storage system.

The flywheel module would be capable of storing four times the energy at one eighth of the cost per energy unit, compared with the company’s current Gen 4 flywheel.

Flywheel energy-storage systems work by accelerating a cylindrical assembly, called a rotor or flywheel, to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy. The energy is converted back by slowing down the flywheel. The flywheel system itself is a kinetic or mechanical battery that spins at very high speeds to store energy that is instantly available when needed.

[Source & read more: the Engineer]

GE, ABB lead $106M investment in Trilliant Inc.

General Electric Co. and ABB Ltd. led a group investing $106 million in closely held Trilliant Inc., which is benefiting from U.S. stimulus funding of so- called smart meters for electric utilities.

Trilliant plans to use the money to increase development of the meters, which allow utilities and consumers to more efficiently manage power use, the Redwood City, California-based company said today in a statement. Trilliant also won a contract to build a $200 million smart-meter system for the 610,000 customers of Augusta, Maine-based Central Maine Power Co.

Trilliant and competitors such as Itron Inc., the largest U.S. maker of utility meters, are beginning to benefit from the $4.5 billion in stimulus funds the Obama administration directed toward smart grids to improve efficiency and accommodate electric vehicles and rooftop solar panels.

[Source & read more: Bloomberg Businessweek]