US project eyes huge solar, wind-energy storage

Washington

AT a windy mountain pass on the edge of the Mojave Desert, North America's most potent collection of batteries used for storing unused power is humming its way towards an electricity revolution. Southern California Edison (SCE) has more than 600,000 lithium-ion battery cells - enough to power 2,000 Chevrolet Volt hybrids - at a substation in Tehachapi, California. The US$54 million, two-year test project aims to collect power generated from the area's 5,000 wind turbines and store it for future use.

Cost-effective storage for wind and solar energy is the industry's "Holy Grail", Morgan Stanley says. That's because times of high output during sunny days or windy nights don't always match up with peak demand. Right now, batteries are too expensive for large-scale use. But improvements in technology are cutting costs, which means storage systems could replace some plants and avoid the need for new ones, according to UBS and Citigroup.