 
A new method of improving the efficiency of wind turbines is taking shape outside Dallas Center, Iowa. A group of local utilities is working out the issue of “how to store the excess energy windmills create when demand is low so it can be used later, when the need is greater.”
Their solution: store it underground.
And we’re not talking about giant batteries (like we wrote about last month) but massive deposits of porous sandstone fed by a giant air compressor. What? Here’s the description from the article,
“The group is building a system that will steer surplus electricity generated by a nearby wind farm to a big air compressor (diagram). Connected to a deep well, the compressor pumps air into layers of sandstone. Some 3,000 feet down and sealed from above by dense shale, the porous sandstone acts like a giant balloon. Later, when demand for power rises, this flow is reversed. As the chamber empties, a whoosh of air flows back up the pipe into a natural-gas-fired turbine, boosting its efficiency by upwards of 60%.”
Cool, right? This way, the utility can provide energy when demand is highest and have on-demand wind ready and waiting. This isn’t just theory either — the project is on track to go online in 2011, with almost $200 million in backing from 100 municipal utilities in Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Iowa’s compressed air energy storage (CAES) project (a 268 MW producer) will be the first of its type to bank green energy. Positive news for the environment and wind energy as a viable and cost-effective alternative. Hit the jump for more.
2 Comments
Beacon Powers flywheel batteries could be an answer to the storage problem.
Mark,
Good comment. If you’re still out there — which we hope you are — I’d be interested in how you came across this company. It’s not that well-known.
I’m one of the “green money” writers here and saw your comment when I returned from the long holiday weekend. Beacon is an interesting — but still speculative — investment play. I came across it over the summer and planned to write about it when it became a tad less speculative. As you may know, the company is still in the R&D stage and just recently completed a design for its patented flywheel.
About a week and a half ago it announced that it has applied for approval to build a 20-megawatt flywheel-based frequency regulation plant in New York State. So, it is just now moving into the commercial stage — a promising sign.
Given the planned (if approved) move into the commercial stage and the fact that a big time private investor has recently begun accumulating a lot of stock in the company, I think now is a good time for me to write about it. So, while it is still very speculative — with no earnings, let alone revenue (except through the Dept of Energy grants and the like) — it is on a bit better footing now.
So….if you’re still around and reading our site, stay tuned for a post by me within the next week on this company!
13 Trackbacks
[...] energy windmills create when demand is low so it can be used later, when the need is greater.â€read more | digg [...]
[...] [Via Ecotality] [...]
[...] [Via Ecotality] [...]
[...] [Via Ecotality] [...]
[...] [Via Ecotality] [...]
[...] VÃa: Ecotality [...]
[...] Fuente: Ecotality [...]
[...] no de depósitos enormes de piedra porosa que actúa como un gran globo." VÃa (en inglés): ecotality.com/life/2007/10/03/midwest-utilities-to-store-surplus-wind-/ .etiquetas: energÃa, eólica, almacenada, subsuelo sin comentariostecnologÃa, energÃa [...]
[...] Visto en Ecoperiódico Fuente Ecotality [...]
[...] [Via Ecotality] [...]
[...] about at Midwest Utilities To Store Surplus Wind Energy Underground - ecotality life, - Last Updated - 7 minutes ago Follow This Story Change Your [...]
[...] read more | digg story [...]
[...] [Via Ecotality] [...]