Smoothing Renewable Wind Energy in Texas

The Notrees Wind Storage Demonstration Project is a 36-megawatt energy storage and power management system, which completed testing and became fully operational in December.

It shows how energy storage can moderate the intermittent nature of wind by storing excess energy when the wind is blowing and making it available later to the electric grid to meet customer demand.

Last month, a small west Texas town was the site of an important first: The commissioning of North America’s largest battery storage project at a wind farm. The Notrees Wind Storage Demonstration Project has implications that may eventually ripple across America, from moving us closer to realizing the potential of renewable energy to improving the reliability and efficiency of the electric grid and increasing our energy independence.

The Notrees Project is one of 16 energy storage demonstration projects supported by the Department under its Recovery Act-funded Smart Grid Energy Storage Demonstration Program. The project received $22 million from DOE, which was matched by $22 million from Duke Energy, for a total of $44 million. The system integration was performed by Xtreme Power.

The 36-megawatt energy storage and power management system, which completed testing and became fully operational in December, shows how energy storage can moderate the intermittent nature of wind by storing excess energy when the wind is blowing and making it available later to the electric grid to meet customer demand.

In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama described the progress we have made — such as doubling the amount of energy generated from renewable sources such as wind and solar