GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) A U.S. defense contractor is planning to test a battery designed to speed up the storage and release of wind energy.

The $307,000 project is being privately funded by Helena-based Exergy Development, which built the Horse Shoe Bend wind farm near Great Falls, and NorthWestern Energy.

On Tuesday, Cascade County commissioners approved an agreement with Virginia-based Ashlawn Group LLC that will allow the company to conduct a year of research on a vanadium redox battery, using a 50-kilowatt wind turbine at the county shop.

Commissioner Peggy Beltrone says the company will measure how quickly the battery can be charged from electricity produced by the wind turbine and how quickly energy can be released.

Technology to store electricity is important in wind power development because wind-generated electricity is intermittent.

Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com