Bill Gates and Peter Thiel are funding it. Power companies are interested in it. Young bright minds are working on it. So what is it? That would be the next-generation of a technology called compressed air energy storage, which sucks up air, compresses it on demand, and stores it in tanks or underground caverns. When power is needed, the air is released.
The technology might sound like some boring power infrastructure system — and it is. Basically. But air energy storage technology could also enable grid storage cheaply enough to help the solve the problem of adding variable clean power to the grid. Solar and wind power can only be generated at certain times of the day. If wind farms and solar projects were coupled with cheap energy storage like compressed air tech, it could make them a lot more economical.
via GigaOM
November 20, 2012
