Stevens County Times: A new thermal battery could help this Minnesota campus electrify heat

A new thermal battery could help this Minnesota campus electrify heat

12 May 2026


News

This story about Cache Energy’s new kind of thermal battery that could warm campus buildings using stored wind energy was originally published by Canary Media.

Twenty-one years ago, the University of Minnesota, Morris, became the first U.S. public university to draw power from an on-site, industrial-scale wind turbine. It added a second one in 2011. Today, the pair — affectionately known as Bert and Ernie — produce more power each year than the semirural campus consumes.

“It’s windy year-round here in western Minnesota,” said Troy Goodnough, the school’s sustainability director.

Click here to view the original article from the Stevens County Times.