New Plan For Storing Wind
Houston startup plans to store wind energy underground
Chris Tomlinson, July 7, 2017 (Houston Chronicle)
“Texans have long stored oil, natural gas and other forms of energy in underground salt caverns…[and now] a Houston startup wants to store wind energy there…[Apex-CAES (compressed air energy storage)] plans to use electricity at night, when it's cheap, to compress air into an underground cavern…[and then release] the air through turbines to generate electricity when the price is right…The difference between the high and low prices in a 24-hour period has not [yet] been large enough to generate a reasonable return on the capital investment…[But Texas' wholesale electricity market and huge nightly wind resource now]make compressed air energy storage viable…[With enough CAES,] Texas would never have to burn coal again, and consumers would enjoy even lower electricity prices…[Apex-CAES is raising $500 million to build its first facility near] five existing natural gas storage caverns that would spin turbines rated at 317 megawatts, capable of generating 15,000 megawatt-hours of electricity over two days without a recharge]...The secret sauce is Texas' [19 megawatts of] cheap wind power…” click here for more
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