Power Opportunity for GE, et al: How To Store Wind/Solar Renewable Energy - Forbes (blog)

WindTamer/Arista Power's Wind Turbine

Wind and solar as a source of renewable energy is a goal that most electric-generating companies, including General  Electric (GE), Duke Energy (DUK), and Northwestern Energy (NEW), are hotly pursuing. But how to store such energy is a huge problem that, so far, has eluded solution. Analysts are convinced that energy storage is the ultimate key to providing clean and cheap energy, but even these giants are finding difficulty in grappling with the problem.

"Energy storage is the "holy grail" of clean technology —  solar and wind become more than niche technologies if the storage problem can be solved," says Steven Milunovich, alternative energy analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC), in a report on grid storage. Harnessing the ability to store electrons at grid scale, he says, has the potential to be a technological breakthrough that could "change how energy is produced, consumed, and valued." High cost remains an inhibitor to adoption near-term, says Milunovich, "but we believe investors should become famliar with grid storage technologies and vendors."

Indeed, various companies, including GE, are investing heavily in ways to come up with cost-effective systems to store the wind and solar energy that their wind turbines and solar technologies capture in combination with other means of generating electricity and power. Fossil fuel, such as oil and coal, are in such great demand because of their constant availability — they are there when people and businesses need them. On the other hand, real energy such as solar and wind come and go and aren't always there when you need them.

So GE is determined to come out with a battery system that will store energy, but the investment costs are enormous as it needs to develop a massive storage system for a huge global customer base, says Wlliam Schmitz, president and CEO of  WindTamer (WNDT), a maker of wind power generators utilizing proprietary technology for elecrtric generation and energy management. The company's name will be changed to Arista Power in May.

There is no replacing fossil fuel until a way is found to store renewable energy and make it available at any time. Schmitz argues that renewable energy won't have much of a chance of becoming a huge source of power unless ways are found to effectively and efficiently store it. It isn't enough for the likes of GE or Duke Energy to generate energy from sources such as wind turbines or solar panels without providing a storage system that makes power immediately available when and where businesses and homes need them urgently. 

This has been the quest of WindTamer, says Schmitz, which has developed a patented "Power on Demand" system that  consists of a wind turbine, solar panels, and specially designed "Smart" delivery battery storage that stores energy from the grid. In essence, the Power on Demand system, which WindTamer has installed in several of its small-business customers, is a storage and power management unit rolled into one. 

Designed to utilize energy inputs from multiple sources, WindTamer's custom-designed battery storage bank reduces grid demand because it mostly provides power when a customer's demand load hits peak levels. It works to smooth power demand on the grid and effectively lowers electricity costs to the customer, says Schmitz, who was formerly Chief Operating Officer of UltraLife (ULBI), a worldwide designer and manufacrturer of power and communictions systems.

The energy that's generated come from renewable sources such as wind and solar, as well from fuel cells and the grid itself depending on the available energy resources at a given site. In other words, says Schmitz, each Power on Demand system is custom-tailored by WindTamer's engineers to provide options to blend renewable energy inputs to best utilize the resources at a customer's location.

 RENEWABLE ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

Charles LaLoggia, one of the largest WindTamer shareholders, says the big energy companies are trying to create renewable storage systems to increase electric supply at the grid level aimed at meetng demand when it peaks. These are huge systems designed to increase supply to meet spikes in demand. On the other hand, the WindTamer system helps solve the peak-demand problem by enablng customers to use their own stored power during times of huge demand, rather than go to the grid for power, he says.  

Other industry players include Enersys (ENS), Active Power (ACPW), and Altair Nanotechnologies (ALTR).  

WindTamer's system eliminates spikes in power demand from the grid by smoothing out a company's power demand from the grid, thereby reducing electricity costs by about 30%, says Schmitz. That's because when a customer's power requirements spike up to a cerain level, the system starts working and draws power from the storage system – not from the grid. In times of low power demand, Schmitz says the the system gradually re-stores the battery power so it is able and ready to be used when the customer again needs power.   

One WindTamer customer is the U.S. Army, which purchased last year a mobile trailer-mounted turbine and renewable energy storage unit containing the Power on Demand system that the military would be able to move around even in battle zones. They are expected to be used in camps, hospitals, and other army locations. 

The portable unit was delivered to the U.S. Army last August at its Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. It was designed with help from the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) to potentially deploy immediate power to military units through 100% wind-and-solar power. Mark Matthews, one of the  designers of the Power on Demand system, says the system is being tested for use as an alternative to the more expensive diesel generators now being used in various military locations. Matthews is also a former executive of UltraLife where he served as a battery designer and chemical engineer.  

The U.S. Army's Michael T. Brundage, chief of the power resources branch of RDFECOM, said in a public statement that "we are pleased with the unique design and functionality of WindTamer's renewable power trailer and we look forwrad to testng it and working closely with the fine professional staff of WindTamer." 

 WindTamer expects to receive orders from several other government agencies, including law-enforcement units. If WindTamer succeeds in winning more customers for its Power on Demand system, it isn't far fetched to imagine that the likes of General Electric or any of the large electric utilities could end up gobbling up tiny WindTamer.