Energy Storage

Powering the grid with renewable energies is a great idea that we’d love to see, and we’d love even more to see coal, oil, and natural gas-fired power plants (and nukes too) close up their doors for good. Unfortunately, the largest of these renewable energies cannot be relied upon to produce electricity around the clock.

The recent spike in electricity supply on the European grid illuminated the problem of storing wind energy, which reamins one of the biggest obstacles to large scale adoption.

Solar power might be the most up-and-coming renewable energy source, but one of the biggest drawbacks to solar power plants is their inability to generate electricity at night or during cloudy days. But now, a new venture called SolarReserve hopes to change all that using salt! Their program would save and store captured energy.

The House Committee on Science and Technology advanced two bills for consideration by the full House. Energy storage technologies and industrial energy efficiency research and development were the focus of separate bills before the Committee. The Committee also passed H.R. 3775, the Industrial Energy Efficiency Research and Development Act of 2007.

Wind power is available when it's windy, right? While many claim that's a detriment for wind power, what it really points to is the need for affordable methods to store energy. Affordable energy storage also affects the need for peaker plants, because the energy could be generated at night, stored, and released during the day. Affordable energy storage works with wind power to store energy when it's windy, for release on days it's calm.