Posted on 05/11/2021 9:47:12 AM PDT by Red Badger
Solar, wind, batteries, nuclear, tidal power, among others, provide carbon-free electricity. But their generation is usually immediately absorbed into the power grid for use or stored in lithium-ion batteries.
Large-scale energy hoarding is expensive, and quite frankly, with base metal prices skyrocketing, maybe unattainable unless the Biden administration allocates billions of dollars to upgrade the grid.
Toronto-based Hydrostor has found a solution to storing power on the grid that doesn’t involve batteries but instead stores energy in the form of compressed air in underground chambers.
California is becoming the new site for two new compressed-air energy storage plants that “will soon rival the world’s largest non-hydroelectric facilities and hold up to 10 gigawatt-hours of energy,” said Popular Mechanics.
Compressed air is part of a growing type of energy storage to stabilize the grid. Here’s how Hydrostor’s: A-CAES technology works:
A-CAES uses surplus electricity from the grid or renewable sources to run an air compressor. The compressed air is then stored in a big underground tank until energy is needed, at which point it’s released through a turbine to generate electricity that’s fed back into the grid.
Rather than vent the heat generated as the air is compressed, Hydrostor’s system captures that heat and stores it in a separate thermal storage tank, then uses it to reheat the air as it’s fed in to the turbine stage, which increases the efficiency of the system. This could prove to be key; compressed air storage systems have typically offered round-trip efficiencies between 40-52 percent, and Quartz is reporting more like 60 percent for this system.
Hydrostor’s A-CAES also makes use of a closed-loop reservoir to maintain the system at a constant pressure during operation. The storage cavern is partially filled with water and as the compressed air is piped in, the water is forced into a separate compensation reservoir. Later, when the air is needed, the water is pumped back into the air storage cavern, pushing the air out towards the turbine. – New Atlas
Hydrostor provides a three-minute of how the technology works.
VIDEO AT LINK...........................
Hydrostor has two major projects in active development – one in southern Kern County and one in Central California, creating a more practical way to store energy on the grid than costly batteries.
“Hydrostor’s patented and commercially proven A-CAES technology provides 8-12+ hours of energy storage, versus the 1-4 hours that current battery technologies can feasibly provide,” Hydrostor said.
When it comes to longevity, a compressed air energy storage plant has a lifespan of more than 50 years, far outpacing battery farms, like Elon Musk’s Tesla Powerpacks.
… and to be clear – all this talk about net-zero carbon emissions talk in the next couple of decades is just a guess by policymakers.
Ding! Someone stole yo batt’ry!
World’s largest accumulator
Always keep yer accumulator filled so ya got a gear/thrust reverser cycle available...
Which of the above supposed "electricity providers" doesn't create electricity, it only stores it?
Key phrase, surplus electricity assumes you have "Off Peak" electricity to spare. With an increasingly 24/7 economy, digital server farms, and electric vehicles being charged overnight, that "surplus" electricity looks more like unicorn farts than a solution to avoid building more generating capacity.
Dat’s just a bunch of hot (then cold) air. Badda-bing, badda-boom!
so it’s like a dam.. only with air..
what about a good old dam in a river? thats carbon free.
Background
Since 1975, when it first began research on CAES, EPRI has maintained continuing efforts to interest the electric utility industry in CAES as a viable storage alternative. CAES plants use both electric energy (approximately 0.80 kWh input for each kWh output) plus fuel (4570 BTU input/per kWh output). Previous experience with CAES includes one 290-MW-4 h plant in service in Germany since 1978. Alabama Electric Cooperative (AEC) took the lead in building the first plant in the United States, a plant that included a first-of-a-kind EPRI developed recuperator to improve plant fuel consumption by about 25%. The EPRI role also included technical and engineering support during all phases of the project, documenting project progress via an engineer-of-record, and funding of specialized plant instrumentation and analyses.
Results
This report is a chronological record of early U.S. CAES developments including load and generation-planning studies, power supply study results, conceptual engineering designs, project administration activities, design specifications, contract requirements, environmental and licensing documents, and construction planning activities. It covers the AEC project from its earliest stages to contract execution on July 29, 1988. Volume 2 of this report will cover the construction period, which formally terminated at midnight, May 31, 1991. Volume 3 will document plant testing, operation, and maintenance.
EPRI Perspective
The planning, engineering, construction, and operation of the AEC plant has proved that CAES in the 100-MW size is economically and environmentally attractive. No major problems were encountered during the early stages of planning or during the engineering of this plant. As a result of initial economic studies, it was discovered that one 100-MW plant would be more economical than two 50-MW units. Thermodynamic studies indicated that cavern wall effects on stored-air temperature required a cavern that was about 25% larger than the size initially proposed. An economic study showed CAES to be preferable to other alternatives for the load projections and load shape forecast by AEC. These and other results connected with this plant and other attractive future CAES plant configurations will aid utilities in their efforts to evaluate and build CAES plants.
So with this compressed air system, you are recovering 60% of the energy stored. I assume the 40% is lost mostly to heat when compressing the air. Why not just lift a huge weight up through a gear train, and let the weight fall to run a generator through the same gear train when you want to tap the energy you stored. The only loss there would be friction, which has to be much less than 40%.
Perhaps not as true as it once was, peak demand is often met with high temperatures from daytime heating, especially in the summer months when pretty much everything is using the HVAC to full capacity.
What is often neglected to be considered, is that electrical energy is largely used instantaneously, as the amount of grid storage is negligible. This is changing with Solar roofs equipped with a Tesla (or competitor) Wall or Vault system. The user can program (at their discretion) to sell unused power to the grid during any time they choose (rates vary during times and seasons). The grid is also intelligent and will review weather forecasts, for example if the forecast is for a storm in the next 24 hours and your Wall units are at 50% charge, they make take power from the grid and fully charge preemptively to if there is an outage; you are secure.
The other consideration is that batteries that do not make qualification standards for the Tesla EV line; may be very good candidates for a Wall or Vault type utility storage device. Even batteries that have exhausted their useful life as a vehicle battery (down to 80% of full charge), may be useful for utility storage.
Consider all the energy that is generated, and lost due to demand exceeding supply - energy storage is a huge market segment that needs to be developed.
Good analogy. Compressed air and hydraulic storage has a role open vehicle power too. Especially for things like delivery trucks that start and stop constantly but retun to base every night.
Live in the south like I do and get plenty of sun, much of which is consumed in the summer for our intense use of A/C, which is great from a storage standpoint (no need to store much for long when much of the power you generate is on long summer days is used on those same days and nights).
But long term storage in the winter is still an issue, even in the south. When we go for a week or two with little sun in the winter we'd have to have a ton of battery storage to hold enough solar energy to get us through that. That's too cost prohibitive. But a home hydrogen electrolysis/storage system can produce hydrogen during the spring and fall (when we get plenty of sun but consume little power because the climate is nice) to use later in the winter (convert hydrogen into electricity).
And hydrogen gas is lighter than air. So if your outside tank leaks it rises up into the atmosphere safely away from your house and property. A bummer for when you need the power, but not a fire hazard.
But this ain't gonna happen with control-freak Dims managing our "green energy" for us. It'll only happen when we take over our energy production ourselves and not let government control our energy consumption with sky high rates and a China type social credit score determining who has to pay what just to cool their house.
Every hydrogen container leaks.
The atoms are so small they go right through the sides, even stainless steel. They will then get ‘hydrogen embrittlement’ and a good solid hit will make them crack.................
Both use electricity from the grid to “store” energy for later.
Tesla's Powerpack stores this as electricity, and Hydrostor stores it as air—which is then regenerated into electricity.
Don't get me wrong, depending on the area and peak usage, I think it is a good idea, but you can have a Powerpack at your house, but not an underground storage cavern system...Yet.
Thanks, RB
Be sure to read the comments to better understand the FAILINGS of this concept.
Compressors to put the air in the ground and pumps to move the water from the cavern, certainly some loss of pressure in the rock. I can’t imagine this air storage to be very efficient considering the power needed for compressors and pumps.
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