GridPoint, Inc has announced that Xcel Energy selected GridPoint's software platform to control the flow of power between the grid and a NGK Insulators' sodium-sulfur battery storing wind energy.

When fully charged, the 1MW battery will hold approximately 7.2 megawatt-hours of electricity, potentially powering 500 homes for over seven hours. This is the first US application of the battery as a direct wind energy storage device. The GridPoint Platform applies information technology to the electric grid to provide utilities with an intelligent network of distributed energy resources that controls load, stores energy and produces power. The project will take place in Luverne, Minnesota., about 30 miles east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, adjacent and connected to the nearby 11MW wind farm owned by Minwind Energy, LLC. S&C Electric Company will install the battery and all associated interconnection components. The battery is expected to go on-line in January 2009.