Comments on: PG&E — Full of Compressed Air

By: Smart Grid Stimulus Funds: Demo Projects, Partners Emerge

Smart Grid Stimulus Funds: Demo Projects, Partners Emerge — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:46:35 +0000

[...] network project with the city of San Jose and Stanford University). Compressed air energy storage, which PG&E has been working with for some time, involves taking excess energy from a power plant or renewable energy, using it to run air [...]

By: ISC Compressed Air Systems

ISC Compressed Air Systems — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:41:08 +0000

Storing compressed air for later use as energy is an excellent idea. Would love to read further documentation on the successful use of this technology.

What kind of safety precautions have to be implemented to protect against damaging equipment from the release of pressure?

By: FAQ: Energy Storage for the Smart Grid

FAQ: Energy Storage for the Smart Grid — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:01:32 +0000

[...] it’s stored under pressure. When the air is released, it powers a turbine, creating electricity. Utilities like PG&E are starting to investigate this technology because it is one of the lowest cost and simplest energy storage [...]

By: Storage: The Best Renewable Energy Integration Strategy? | Green Stocks

Storage: The Best Renewable Energy Integration Strategy? | Green Stocks — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:11:34 +0000

[...] Transmission is unfortunately difficult to permit and build, and demand response can only be used a few hours a year (at least until we get more responsive demand through smart grid investment.) This means that there will continue to be a large need for the three other forms of large scale, cheap energy storage. Unfortunately, all three can only be used effectively in special situations. Pumped hydro requires two adjacent reservoirs with a vertical drop between them, Thermal Storage works best with Concentrating Solar Power plants, especially in the tower configuration, and CAES requires an underground, air-tight cavern. [...]

By: Eideard

Eideard — Sun, 10 May 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Can I work on the script for the movie that uses this as a plot? And blows up Detroit after they use the old salt mine under the city for storage?

By: Charles R. Toca

Charles R. Toca — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:36:15 +0000

Katie,

I don’t know if they mentioned this, but the compressed air is used to run natural gas turbines – so we are still using natural gas. I’d be interested in knowing if they mentioned this and what they gave as the round-trip efficiency. Energy in – energy out.

We sell the VRB-ESS, which is available now, in multi-megawatt sizes, and with a 75% efficiency. We would be able to install much more capacity in much less time than PG&E will ever do with CAES. The problem is that PG&E will make more money installing a CAES central plant…

More information at http://www.utility-savings.com.

By: Amber in Albuquerque

Amber in Albuquerque — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:19:59 +0000

Some developers have also been investigating ‘transportable’ and ‘mini’ CAES for non-utility-scale energy storage. These above-ground systems (the air is stored in tanks) could be used to augment renewable generation at large facilities (office parks, stadiums, etc.). There’s a host of issues involved with commercializing the technology (cost, permitting, having the system on the local grid, etc.) but the tech is out there…

By: Green Ink: Jumpstarting the Climate Bill - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Green Ink: Jumpstarting the Climate Bill - Environmental Capital - WSJ — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:27:52 +0000

[...] Finally, Earth2Tech takes a look at a decades-old energy storage option that is getting a fresh opportunity from some utilities: Compressed-air storage. [...]