The next-generation of technology to use compressed air for energy storage is on its way. One of the companies leading the way — General Compression — has raised another $20.39 million Series B round, according to a filing. Read More »
Cleantech
The Electric Power Research Institute has released a report that lays out energy storage technology options, benefits, performance and costs and how the different technologies play a role in everything from managing the electric grid to managing home energy use. Read More »
Utilities know they have to figure out how to store energy produced intermittently, such as wind and solar, or store energy from fossil-fuel power plants to keep the grid loaded when wind turbines and solar energy equipment aren’t doing their best. Read More »
Earth, Wind & Fire: A Phoenix, Ariz.-based company called Solar Southwest Technology aims to power compressed air energy storage with surplus wind energy generated at night, rather than coal. To heat the air so it expands and drives turbine blades better, Solar Southwest is using solar… Read More »
Some energy storage technologies for the power grid are expensive but can be deployed anywhere, like advanced batteries, while others are cheap but can only be built in certain locations, like pumping water up and down hilly terrain (known as “pumped hydro”). But a group… Read More »
Adding digital intelligence to the power grid is getting all the attention right now from Congress, investors and entrepreneurs, but a next-generation smart grid without energy storage is like a computer without a hard drive: severely limited. Energy stored throughout the grid can provide dispatchable… Read More »
Energy storage is the ignored stepchild of the smart grid world: It’s received little funding compared to other smart grid technologies and is just starting to get more attention from entrepreneurs. But Northern California utility PG&E says it’s eager to add energy storage capability to its… Read More »
Magnetic Air Cars Inc says it is working on a prototype car that will not use any gas, fuel, or external recharging device, only air to propel the vehicle. They say they plan to have the Air Car ready by 2010 “or sooner.” Read More »
When it comes to renewable energy, there’s the valid question: “But what do you do when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow?” A new joint venture, launched with $20 million, thinks it has an answer – compressed air. Public Service Enterprise… Read More »
