HOW NOT TO CATCH THE WIND

Professor Smyrl of the University of Minnesota is studying several possibilities for wind energy storage. One uses very large sodium sulfur batteries. It sounds too expensive to be widely useful. Another uses wind energy to split water into hydrogen that would be used to make fertilizer that would be used to grow corn for corn ethanol. It sounds somewhere between preposterous and absurd.

Ideas Professor Smyrl is not studying: (1) The use of a giant flywheel to hold the energy generated by wind. It sounds less expensive and therefore more likely than batteries. (2) The use of wind energy to compress air for later release. Ironically, it might be the most practical. As someone pointed out when discussing the same idea to store solar energy, a laptop battery costs $150 while a thermos costs $5.

A lot of discussion goes into storing wind energy (and solar energy) but the truth is there is a much bigger challenge: Transmission.

Carl Dombek, spokesman, Midwest ISO: "You can get and erect a [wind] farm in 18 months to two years, but to build a line can take seven years or longer…"

It’s not either storage or transmission, though. It’s storage AND transmission.

Footnote: Professor Smyrl argues that using wind energy to split water to make hydrogen for use in corn fertilizer would make it possible to make corn ethanol without importing $900/ton anhydrous ammonia.

Mike Reese, renewable energy director, University of Minnesota/West Central Outreach Center: "[Because corn fertilizer requires imported anhydrous ammonia] our [biofuel] industry can't be considered completely domestic…"

That’s not a good reason to use wind energy to make hydrogen, that’s a good reason to use wind energy to make electricity and to build cars that run on electricity.

Rune Birk Nielsen, Danish Wind Industry Association, on how Denmark became the first nation in the world to get 20% of its electricity from wind: "We have simply put up a lot of windmills…"

The good news: These experimental projects are driven by the Minnesota Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) that calls on the state’s utilities to obtain 25% of their power from New Energy sources by 2025. The RES motivates science and business to innovate and, because it does, the U.S. needs a national RES.

Professor Smyrl: "Why not have a challenge like that, even if we only came in at half [12 percent], that's a start…"

Now THAT’s a good point, Professor. Any voters who want to pose it to their Congressional representatives can do so at POWER OF WIND

Storage would smooth the supply-demand cycle. (click to enlarge)

Storing wind energy in a bottle
Hilary Brueck, May 4, 2008 (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

WHO
Bill Smyrl, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota; Dick Kelly, chairman/CEO, Xcel Energy Inc.

click to enlarge

WHAT
Professor Smyrl is studying various theories of wind energy storage including the use of trailer-truck sized sodium sulfur batteries and the generation of hydrogen as a storable medium.

WHEN
- Smyrl has studied lithium-ion batteries for the past 15 years.
- The first field-scale test of the sodium sulfur batteries is scheduled for Summer 2008.
- Best case scenario puts battery wind storage on the market in 5 years.
- Smyrl’s experimental projects are scheduled to run over the next few years.

Xcel's support of storage research comes from its leadership position in the wind industry. (click to enlarge)

WHERE
- The battery experiment will be on a 12-turbine wind farm in Luverne, Minn.
- Minnesota is among U.S. leaders in deriving electricity from wind, getting 4.6% of its supply that way.
- The U.S. gets ~1% of its electricity from wind.
- Denmark is the first nation in the world to get 20% of its electricity from wind, a goal the - U.S. wind industry wants to get to by 2030.

WHY
- The new U.S. and world emphasis on agrofuels like corn ethanol has inadvertently contributed to a worldwide food price and supply crisis, causing Midwestern energy experts to look to wind.
- Smyrl’s experiments with batteries are in partnership with Xcel Energy. The sodium sulfur might be feasible because of their size, because they are expected to be 10% more efficient than lead-acid batteries and because they have no toxic elements.
- The battery experiments will study their performance in varying conditions and demand circumstances including over extended time periods and under heavy pressure from the grid during peak demand.

A compressed air storage system. A thermos is much cheaper than a laptop battery. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Dick Kelly, chairman/CEO, Xcel Energy Inc.: "Energy storage is key to expanding the use of renewable energy…"
- Mike Reese, renewable energy director, University of Minnesota/West Central Outreach Center: "As we move toward reducing greenhouse gases, [and see] increased transportation cost for coal, wind energy is becoming more competitive …"