Advances for Wind

I went to another lecture on wind energy this past week, and part of a solution to the unpredictability of wind caught my attention. They mentioned three methods of storage.
1) One used the turbines as some sort of water pump which would then drive generators.
2) The second used a sort of compressed air system.
3) And the third used a storage system built into home appliances.

There were a few other methods named which were a bit less direct, like using excess energy when the wind was blowing the fastest to charge electric cars (another very interesting topic). The one that most interested me, however, was the compressed air system. I found a great New York Times article that talks about the potential for the new technology. One of the major problems people point out with wind energy is that there is currently no way to store the energy during times of high wind to be used at peak hours of electrical use when there may not be as much wind. This system would use wind turbines to compress air underground, which would later be released and used to turn generators during peak hours. There is apparently a power plant in Alabama that has been using this sort of technique since 1991, as well as a plant from Germany built in the 70's.

These power plants are not based on wind power, though, and can use a variety of fuels to compress air. This means that they are still researching new ways to store the technology, but I believe the new market for it will spur them into quick innovations. Forerunners on the project are looking at using old mines and natural gas deposits to store the air underground, since in many places excavating new underground storage would be difficult due to the rocky substrate. I think this would be a very economical, and environmentally conscious act on their par. Since mines are normal detrimental to the environment, it would be just to use them as part of a mechanism for clean energy.

Though wind energy can be used, as it has been proven in many places, without the assistance of energy storage, the addition of storage systems would help it pass judgment with some naysayers who hold this as their main negative aspect. I believe the more innovations that can be made to improve this technology, the more people will realize how crucial a component it is for our world's future.