Energy storage technology is erasing the billboards on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that promote coal by saying the wind dies and the sun sets.
Sixteen massive 2 megawatt batteries manufactured by A123 Systems at an existing AES 89 megawatt wind farm in West Virginia are storing significant amounts of wind energy and enabling the wind farm to dispatch power when it is needed. Or when the wind dies. The 16 batteries combined storage represents 32 megawatts that can be discharged and recharged in 15 minutes.
The A123 Systems and AES collaboration is the largest application of battery technology to firm up wind power in the world. The project revolutionizes wind energy and solar power, since it demonstrates today the commercial viability of battery technology to firm intermittent wind and solar.
As batteries improve and decline in cost, the sun will never set and the wind will never die.
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