March 14th, 2010 @ 7:05 pm
As long as it doesn’t pop!
Compressed-air energy storage plants use compressors to store electricity generated when it’s not needed. The air, pumped into large underground formations, is like a spring that’s been squeezed and when it’s needed, it can deliver a large percentage of the energy that it received.
The first and only such plant in the United States went online in 1991, and though the technology didn’t take off, it did prove that it worked. And now, combining cheap wind energy and compressed-air storage could create a potent new force in the electricity markets.
via Bottled Wind Could Be as Constant as Coal | Wired Science | Wired.com.
Awesome. They made the plant by pumping water into a salt cavern and then pumping the bring back out. The salt somehow seals the cavern and they can fill it with pressurized air.
Reading, NY (near Watkins Glen) received 29.6 million$ from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to build a facility to store energy from NY’s awesome wind farms in compressed air salt caverns.
Apparently the other major method of storing energy is pumped hydroelectric, which is basically they pump water and hill and have it turn a turbine when they need some power. The U.S. has 2.5 gigawatts of this already but ya kinda have to flood something to make more sites.

