Battery Fire at Kahuku Wind-Energy Storage Farm

Energy storage may seem like the wind of change, with the potential to firstly, transform variable renewable energy sources like wind and photovoltaics into base load power, secondly change the way utilities price and buy energy, and thirdly, serve as a natural solution for fragile island grids.

However, thus far, the potential of energy storage (other than pumped hydro) remains just that — potential. Instead, suppliers in the electrochemical battery storage industry are undergoing a rough maturation period.

The recent battery room fire that erupted at the wind-energy storage farm in Kahuku is one such example.

“A smoke alarm went off” early Wednesday morning on the north shore of Oahu Hawai’i, at the 12-turbine, 30 megawatt Kahuku wind farm, according to an Xtreme Power spokesperson. Developed by First Wind, Kahuku is augmented with a 15-megawatt battery from VC-funded Xtreme Power and sells power to the island utility, HECO.

Xtreme’s “chemical capacitor” storage technology is meant to match lithium-ion battery performance, by using all dry and inert materials that can operate at room temperatures, unlike the current leading grid-scale technology of sodium sulfur batteries.

Source and Read More

  

If you want to know more about this and other topics directly from end users of energy storage technologies join us at one of these annual events: The Energy Storage World Forum (Grid Scale Applications), or The Residential Energy Storage Forum, or one of our Training Courses.

LATEST ARTICLES

Annual Installed Capacity Significantly Increases

While the global market was under the haze of the epidemic and many countries were still in lockdown, the energy storage market showed extremely strong resilience and began to recover and grow since Q3 and Q4 of 2020. According to the BloombergNEF report, the global energy storage market in 2020 has developed faster than expected,…

Read More

Battery Storage for Commercial & Industry

Powerful battery storage offers many advantages in terms of saving electricity costs and a reliable power supply. With this technology, companies retain control of their energy supply and costs. The battery storage system is charged when energy is cheaply available and it supplies the stored electricity when prices are at their highest. With applications such…

Read More

★REVIEWS

“Probably the most interactive and well organized storage event on the calendar.”

★★★★★

Sales Director, S&C

“Great topics, competent speakers, good networking: keep it like that.”

★★★★★

TLC & SCADA Manager, FRI-EL

“High scientific content, well targeted, perfect organization.”

★★★★★

Expert Technical & Governance, Elia

Excellent networking event. The sponsorship was well worth it.”

★★★★★

Manager, ATL

View More

x