Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumSiemens Figures Out What to Do With Night Wind (electrolysis, hydrogen storage)
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/19/siemens-figures-out-what-to-do-with-night-wind/German energy giant Siemens has a solution in the works to tap the unused wind-powered electricity that goes to waste at night because no one is up and about. The planets daily temperature swings stir up night-time winds, just when no one needs electricity.
Solving the storage issue is especially crucial for Germany, which, by cutting its nuclear power, is correspondingly scaling up its offshore wind power 20-fold by 2020 when it will have 10 GW of wind power on the grid.
Using part of their annual 1 billion euro R&D budget ($1.3 billion), Siemens is working on devising large scale electrolysis that would convert wind energy into gas that can be stored as electricity cannot be and can then be shipped out, when it is needed, by pipeline.
Their electrolyser, a soccer-field-sized plant that converts power into storable hydrogen, is in the testing phase, Michael Weinhold, chief technology officer of Siemens energy businesses told Bloomberg.
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saras
(6,670 posts)That's what batteries do. Or hydropower reservoirs, if you want a large-scale one. I think we could do something even more efficient by lifting rock instead of water. Lift it with excess energy, lower it to recover the energy. Stuff the whole thing underground - it's about as polluting as a hydro reservoir.
longship
(40,416 posts)Battery technology is dodgy at best to supply an electrical grid. It is too expensive, too inefficient at those scales.
I like the electrolysis idea because it allows both night winds to be stored for daytime use, and daytime solar to be used during night time when electric lighting is used.
Pumping water up to later drive turbines is another, but I never heard of rocks being used. Interesting idea, though.
Unfortunately batteries just aren't there yet.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)They get all the cool stuff first.
And they will stop China from being able to take it over because it is such a huge operation. Unlike PV solar panels.