SunTrain is designing a method to transport power by rail, moving containerized batteries between solar and wind farms in Colorado to existing rail-served power plants in the Denver area. Batteries, inside standard 20-foot containers and loaded onto 89-foot railcars, are charged at originating solar and wind farms and transported on existing Union Pacific and BNSF Railway tracks for delivery to power plants, where the energy is discharged from the containers and transported to the grid using those power plants’ infrastructure. Each of SunTrain’s 20-foot containers holds 40 tons of batteries, each producing about 4.8 megawatt-hours. Each 89-foot railcar carries 120 tons of batteries, producing 19.2 megawatts per hour–enough energy to power 1,000 homes for a day.
www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/suntrains-battery-storage-technology-heads-for-the-rails/