STORAGE OF ELECTRICITY AND SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY

In connection with the problem of matching variable supplies of electricity with variable demands, here are some links to pages relating to methods for storing electricity or solar thermal energy:

• Pumped storage.
  • New study shows Europe's pumped storage potential (RenewableEnergyWorld.com, 2012-04-13).
  • Technoport talks: Prof. Olav Hohmeyer, Norway Europe's green battery (You Tube, 2011-10-12).
  • Pumped storage hydropower in Norway (Statkraft).
  • Can Norway be Europe’s “green battery”? (Centre for Environmental Design of Renewable Energy (CEDREN), 3011-01-27).
  • Pumped storage at Dinorwig, Llanberis.
• Compressed air storage (CAES). See, for example, Rocks could be novel store for wind energy (New Scientist, 2007-10-01).
• German mountains promise to store wind power (DW-WORLD.DE, 2011-05-25).
• Vehicle-to-grid technology.
• Heat storage with CSP:
  • Bird's-eye view of solar plant that works at night (New Scientist, 2011-10-12).
• Liquid air tested to store renewable energy in UK (Clean Technica, 2011-03-02).
• Flow batteries (Wikipedia).
• The ZBB zinc energy storage system (ZESS).
• Pumped heat storage (Isentropic). "The round trip efficiency is over 72% - 80%. Because gravel is such a cheap and readily available material, the cost per kWh can be kept very low - $55/kWh - and $10/kWh at scale."
• Smoothing out the wind (The Economist, 2010-03-15).
• Electricity storage - the "Isle of Energy": storing power at sea (Power Engineering International, September, 2007).
• Beacon Power to begin construction of first flywheel frequency regulation plant (RenewableEnergyWorld.com, 2009-11-12). See also the Beacon Power website.
• Energy storage: how solar can always meet demand (RenewableEnergyWorld.com, 2008-10-15).
• Storing electrical energy as hydrogen:
  • WHL Energy Ltd
  • Wind-hydrogen hybrid power system (Wikipedia)
• Ice Energy. Creating ice at night to provide cooling during the day.
• Large-scale storage of electricity with flow batteries.
• Electricity Storage Association
• Gunther Portfolio blog about energy storage
• NREL page about solar thermal energy storage technology