Start-up compresses air in tanks for energy storage

BOSTON--While hundreds of other companies are trying to make a better battery, start-up SustainX Energy Solutions is trying to find better ways to compress and store air to help utilities take full advantage of intermittent sources of energy like wind.

Dax Kepshire, president of SustainX, sketched out the company's technology and product plans here Thursday at the Fifth Annual Conference on Clean Energy. SustainX was spun out of Dartmouth College last year and received $4 million in funding from Polaris Venture Partners and Rockport Capital in August of this year. It now has 10 employees.

There are already a few compressed-air facilities in the world where off-peak electricity is used to pump air underground for storage. During peak-demand times, the air is released and pushed through a turbine to make electricity.

It's a method that's getting more attention now as a way to store several hours worth of wind power, for example.

Traditional compressed air storage uses underground formations to store compressed air, which is released when needed to make electricity. Click on the image for a photo gallery of other types of energy storage.

(Credit: PG&E)

The primary difference with SustainX's approach is that it doesn't need an underground salt dome or limestone cavern to store the compressed air. Instead, it proposes storing the compressed air in off-the-shelf tanks. Its technical goal in two years is to cram 4 megawatt-hours worth of stored energy in a 40-foot long container, said Kepshire. The tank-filled container would be able to deliver 1 megawatt of power.

In the near term, it plans to build a 100 kilowatt hour pilot system to test the efficiency and then to validate the larger model in 2011, Kepshire said.

Its technology is also very different from the existing compressed-air storage facilities. With traditional compressed-air energy storage, a machine called a compressor compacts air and pumps it underground. To make electricity, the air is released and run through special turbines and a generator to make electricity.

SustainX is designing a system that uses a hydraulic piston to compress air. When the air is released, it moves a hydraulic motor which is attached to a generator to make electricity, Kepshire explained.

The key to making the overall system is to reduce the energy loss that happens in the compression and decompression of air, he said. He expects the first pilot system to be about 50 percent efficient but the full system to be more around 70 percent efficient overall.

Compressed air energy storage has a lot of potential because it's relatively inexpensive and because utilities can store many hours worth of electricity. Pacific Gas & Electric is investigating locations for compressd-air storage capable of delivering 300 megawatts of electricity for 10 hours, or 3,000 megawatt-hours. By contrast, utility-scale battery storage systems in use now deliver 1 or 2 megawatts for a few hours.

SustainX doesn't have any customers yet, but Kepshire said the company is targeting utilities looking to use more renewable energy. The company's technology, if it proves efficient enough, can be scaled to stored many hours of energy and deliver large amounts of power, he said.

[Will_in_BC]

Thank you for correctly using the units of power and energy. Most articles I've read on CNET have improperly used megawatt hours and megawatts.

[man_w_balls]

Sounds great, but I hope they use higher-quality than "off the shelf" compressed air tanks. My walmart air tank doesn't hold the same pressure for more than a day at a time. Even when it was brand-new, it would leak 10-15 PSI per day.

[bschmock]

I highly doubt this company went to wall mart to buy their air tanks.

[disco-legend-zeke]

Although inefficiencies should be minimized, the alternative of grid failure makes this an easy TCO computation.

[carlhage]

I don't understand how they get around the problem of heat loss-- that's the main problem in efficiency with compressed air systems. When air is compressed, it heats up (PV=NRT), so compressing the air by 10X increases temperature by 10X, and leaks out of the storage container. Then when the air expands, it cools. That's the principle of a refrigerator. Perhaps if the tanks are well insulated? Some compressed air sites propose storing heat externally before the air is stored, then reheating the air exiting.

[erifkind]

maybe the residual heat could be harnessed for even more energy generation as it escapes the tanks. Some sort of water heating system on the outside of these tanks...

[iptofar]

Most hydraulic systems are 80% efficient while the compressed gas system would likely not be even that efficient. In effect, it's just a large hydraulic accumulator. It's hard to imagine the system being competitive with concurrent generation since you would only get back 60 or so percent of what you put into it.

[solar_thermal]

I agree that being only 60% efficient would be a major drawback but since utilities will pay a premium for dispatchable power at peak times it may not be that far off. We also have to start somewhere and there is no reason to believe that this would be as good as it will get as far as efficiency. I could see where this could be a major help for wind, which is already fairly cheap but often produces power when the utilities just don?t need it or have to back it up with expensive peaking power.

Now in reality we have already had a storage system for electricity like this for over 100 years. Pumped hydro storage can be more efficient than 60% and can be piggybacked on existing dams. Basically it is just a hydro turbine that is energized to pump water back up hill when you have surplus or cheap electricity available.

[RMSorg]

You have to start somewhere and explore different options. This company is researching and experimenting with ways to produce electricity in a eco friendly manner. Wish them all the luck and by the comments posted here it looks like it's a system that could work if they work around efficiency issues!
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Great post that gets the people talking & thinking!

RM - InBoundMarketingPR