Stories tagged with "energy storage"

Compressed Air Energy Storage - How viable is it?

Posted by Libelle on July 27, 2008 - 9:00am in The Oil Drum: Canada
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: compressed air, energy storage, thermodynamics [list all tags]

Energy Storage - Compressed Air

One of the most critical aspects of the implementation of renewable electricity is the ability to store electricity.  If a good solution existed right now, our situation would be a good deal easier.  On the face of it, compressed air seems a likely candidate: relatively easy to make, store and use - so what is the problem?  Why isn't it used routinely?

More Thermodynamics than You Ever Wanted to Know?

We usually speak of storing and using energy without being very precise about what we mean.  That ends forever if you take a few chemistry or engineering courses.  Thermodynamics rules everything.

There's more… (1026 words) | Comments (160) | | Permalink | Without comments

We're Off To See The Wizard - Storing Energy Using Ammonia

Posted by Big Gav on April 29, 2008 - 5:01pm in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: ammonia, australia, concentrating solar power, energy storage, solar thermal power, wizard power [list all tags]

There were a couple of small Australian solar power projects that I left out of my look at solar thermal power a little while ago, as I thought they were worthy of separate consideration.

The first of these is being put together by a South Australian company called Wizard Power, which is trying to commercialise research from the Australian National University (ANU) - a solar concentrator dish and a closed loop thermochemical energy storage system using ammonia.

There's more… (1270 words) | Comments (94) | | Permalink | Without comments

Storing Energy Using Graphite

Posted by Big Gav on February 12, 2008 - 7:00pm in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: australia, energy storage, flow battery, graphite, king island, loyd energy, vanadium [list all tags]

The Canberra Times recently published an article, rather misleadingly entitled "Generating solar energy in the dark", which looked at the use of purified graphite for thermal energy storage.

The company developing the technology is called Lloyd Energy Systems, and they are prototyping solar energy storage, a wind-to-heat plant and a small-scale plant that combines water treatment, energy storage and steam turbine generation.

The company has received a $5 million Federal Government grant as part of its advanced energy storage technology program in the western NSW town of Lake Cargelligo, with Country Energy agreeing to purchase the power generated. Lloyd Energy also has an agreement with Ergon Energy in Queensland to build a $30million plant at Cloncurry in Queensland, partially funded by the Queensland state government, which the Sydney Morning Herald reported on last year.

There's more… (2050 words) | Comments (53) | | Permalink | Without comments

The Round-Up: March 28th 2007

Posted by Stoneleigh on March 28, 2007 - 8:15am in The Oil Drum: Canada
Topic: Site news
Tags: biofuel, carbon tax, energy storage, housing market, integration, nafta, oil sands, property taxes, regulation, renewable energy, subprime loans, tilma, wind power [list all tags]

Canadian rebirth for wind power

Inside an unremarkable office building on the outskirts of Vancouver, a small team of engineers and marketers is building a technology that will tame the wind.

It is a high-tech battery that looks like a pair of hot-water tanks linked by a twisting network of plastic piping. Each tank is filled with vanadium, an element named after a Norse fertility goddess that could give birth to new possibilities in alternative energy by making wind turbines nearly as reliable as coal-fired electric plants.

First designed by NASA and developed by Vancouver-based VRB Power Systems Inc., the vanadium battery took a major step toward commercial success yesterday after the Irish government released a study showing it could substantially boost profitability at wind farms when the Emerald Isle is looking to inject some of its famous green into its power supply.

There's more… (5101 words) | Comments (7) | | Permalink | Without comments