November 25, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) said it plans to match a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to design, build and install large-scale batteries to store wind energy at one of its wind farms in Texas.

The batteries at Duke Energy’s Notrees Windpower Project in Ector and Winkler counties, Texas, will store excess wind energy and discharge it whenever demand for electricity is highest.

The prevailing technology used at wind and solar farms throughout the world allows electricity to be produced only when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. The intent of the Notrees grant is to demonstrate how energy storage can help overcome this issue, often referred to as “intermittency.”

According to Duke, the project represents one of the nation’s first demonstrations of energy storage at a utility-scale wind farm. The 95 wind turbines in operation at Duke Energy’s Notrees site can generate 151 megawatts of electricity.

In April 2009, Walmart began purchasing energy directly from the Notrees project to power up to 15 percent of its stores and facilities in Texas.

The total value of the 20-MW energy storage project at Duke Energy’s Notrees site is $43.6 million.

The DOE grant was made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, known informally as the federal stimulus program.

North Carolina-based Duke Energy Generation Services develops, owns and operates electric generation for large energy consumers, municipalities, utilities and industrial facilities.

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