NOV 19

They should use a flywheel for storing the energy.

NAs batteries are highly dangerous, they operate at 300C, and can explode with the energy of a bomb. Such batteries would have to be protected by armed guards because of the terror risk.

Well folks I got bad news and I got good news. The bad news is that the wind is dead still and will be for days. The good news is you won't run out of power for 7 hours...

a very powerfull storage system will be the hydrogen caverne! i don't like the battery idea, thats not realy green.

Here is a fine article on NaS batteries:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-07-04-sodium-battery_N.htm

It would make more sense to put the batteries close to where the power is needed than where the power is generated.

80-tons of battery for only 500 homes?
I hope they figure out how to greatly increase the storage capacity.

Also, the possibility of this has been around for a long time, and it was my understanding that they didn't do it because the "electricity to battery to electricity" efficiency was too low, the high rate of self-discharge, the short lifetime, etc.

cameron, you don't put wind farms in places where the wind dies for days, except very rarely, and you don't rely solely on wind farms for electricity for that exact reason. But providing battery backup is still a good option because it makes the system more robust. But batteries have to be safe, environmentally friendly, and effective.

AES and Altairnano was doing similar things a while back. And Altairnono batteries do not explode

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9985393-54.html

NAs batteries are highly dangerous, they operate at 300C, and can explode with the energy of a bomb.

My laptop battery could explode with the force of a bomb, as can many other lithium batteries.

Such batteries would have to be protected by armed guards because of the terror risk.

Gee, my regular batteries seem to do just fine without the armed guard. I smell FUD.

As the great republican depression draws darkly over the Americas, we all begin to realize that we live an excessive and distinctly 19th century lifestyle. This will be remedied by extreme sociological and lifestyle adjustments forced on the people by poverty, scarcity a useless dollar and hunger. As we draw ourselves out of the darkness we will find profound changes in the "American Dream" that will allow wind power, solar power and ground heating to become practical. We will light our way with LEDs, use practical solar assisted refrigeration, cook with much improved microwave methods, heat by passive solar and ground heat systems for super-insulated, realistically sized, built for 'hard times survival' dwellings and the personal car will be a plug in, ultra light carbon fiber Compressed Natural Gas / electric affair that will be so popular as to provide all the ballast the wind and solar generation need. Each dwelling in a given cluster will have solar voltaic systems with battery ballasts also hooked to wind power sources as ballast where possible. Banks of spare, charged batteries for vehicles may also be available in some locations. The science and technologies for a clean, oil free way of life are almost all within reach, the depression will provide the motivation and the paradigm shift is upon us now! Hang on America, it's going to be a hell of a ride into the oil free 21st Century!

Take a look at http://www.electricitystorage....es_vrb.htm - vanadium (and other compounds) flow batteries. This is a technology already deployed on King Island in Australia and other parts of the world.

When buildings use as much electricity as they have to, instead of now where they use as much as they can; we shall need less power produced, stored and distributed. Domestic properties should be off the grid and this large scale production should only be needed for cities and industrial areas.
We shall see if the republican depression is thwarted by a democratic boom.
Or is it just more political hype?

While the efficiency of wind-to-battery is not necessarily high, it could be a great means by which FEMA or other disaster assistance agencies could store power on tractor trailers, and ship them where they need them in case of disasters. Put them strategically located across the country, on the grid, constantly on a trickle charge, and it would reduce the use of emergency generators at least (which are usually diesel, and while not only utilizing petrolium, are heavy polluters). Just a thought. While technologies aren't perfect right now, and there are so many new products coming out, so many new technologies, if we really want to support a change to the market, and shift the paradigms, we have to start thinking in ways that we can find utility in products, instead of just dismissing them entirely. I'm in the energy field, always searching for custom solutions. There is no perfect solution for every situation. It cracks me up how many critics there are, and how few of those critics are actually working to develop something useful.

A better way to store energy is CAES (compressed air energy storage). I'm not against the batteries being tryed. This technology compresses air to 1000 lb/in squared usually during the night. Then its brought back out during the day combined by natural gas in a turbine. This was in a paper for running the whole country on photovoltaics. This method was for powering the night time loads.


http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=47096

I noticed that this article - and the parent article - failed to provide any information on the cost or lifespan of this "new" battery storage system. Wonder why? Could it be that it would show that batteries of this type are not very cost-effective? Bet so!