We've always said that compressed air is the 4th Utility. Now it looks like it can be the 1st and the 4th.
SustainX has found a way to make compressed air a green and sustainable storage solution for electrical generation.
"The 1.5-megawatt ICAES system is located at SustainX headquarters in
Seabrook, New Hampshire. It takes electricity from the grid and uses it
to drive a motor that compresses air and stores it isothermally, or at
near-constant temperature. To do so it captures the heat produced during
compression, traps it in water, and stores the warmed air-water mixture
in pipes. When electricity is needed back on the grid, the process
reverses and the air expands, driving a generator. No fossil fuel is
needed to reheat the air and no emissions are produced, making ICAES a
safe and sustainable energy storage solution."
"The system can be scaled in both power (megawatts) and energy
(megawatt-hours) depending on the application, and can be located where
needed thanks to its use of standard pipeline storage and clean,
emission-free operation. Because it's based on proven mechanical
principles and mature industrial components, the system has a 20-year
operating life with a very low levelized cost of energy, enabling
cost-effective, large-scale storage of electricity. Unlike chemical
battery systems, ICAES performance does not degrade over its lifetime or
need frequent replacement. No hazardous materials are used.
SustainX ICAES technology is a significant improvement over
conventional compressed air energy storage (CAES) systems, which have
existed since the 1970s. CAES systems burn fossil fuel and are greatly
limited by the need for specific geological locations (i.e. caverns) for
air storage -- as well as substantial investments in time and money.
Because of these limitations, there are only two such installations
worldwide. SustainX's ICAES is the first megawatt-scale compressed air
energy storage system built anywhere since 1991, and represents an
opportunity to expand the availability and use of this bulk energy
storage method."
Full story here.
It
looks like the key breakthrough is in the way they do their heat
exchanging. Normally when you compress air, a large amount of energy is
lost as heat. It looks like they've found a way to capture the heat of
compression in a very efficient and sustainable manner. You can read
the science behind it here.
SustainX isn't the only one who can capture the heat of compression and put it to use. Kaeser Compressors have an energy recovery option to capture this heat, as well. You can download the brochure on it here. If you're interested, contact us, and our experts will help you decide if this is right for your facility.
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