rrbatch

Alternative Energy Storage: It's All About Price vs. Performance

John - Great post and debate! I particularly appreciate your distinction between invention and product. You're right on top of the issue that befuddles the exponents of alternative power: energy storage, needed to translate the variable power supply from wind and solar generators to the times of peak demand.

I retired from the Babcock & Wilcox Co. (sub of McDermott International, MDR) in 2000. My last project there was a Superconducting Magnet Energy Storage (SMES) system funded with about $25 million from DOE. The objective was to serve utility-scale grid stabilization applications with stored energy of about 100 MJ and discharge power of 100 MW. In the course of developing the system, we tried mightily to find a utility willing to foot the cost of integrating the system into their grid, given the magnet for free. The Anchorage AK municipal utility has a real problem in service stability at the end of long supply lines, but they couldn't find the money to provide the foundation, enclosure, and electronics to charge and discharge the magnet. AEP has a station in KY with a power controller that would be ideal for the application, but they were unwilling to take the risk of modification of their controller to charge and discharge the magnet. Eventually the magnet was completed and delivered to the DOE-funded National High Magnetic Field Lab at the University of Florida at Tallahassee, where to my knowledge it sits in the boneyard with other relics of DOE programs that have never been put to use.

The Navy is developing an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) to replace the steam catapults on future aircraft carriers, improving energy efficiency and reducing force variability on the aircraft and maintenance workload. I consult with the prime contractor, General Atomics (private). The system includes 12 flywheel generators charged at a relatively low power level from the ship's bus, then discharged in a 5-sec pulse to launch an aircraft. Each flywheel stores over 120 MJ (33 kWh) of energy and discharges with a peak power over 100 MW. These specs are somewhat more than the 25 kWh capacity advertised by Beacon Power. I don't believe GA has any plans to commercialize the product, and given our experience with SMES i doubt that many utilities would want to invest in it.

GA operates the largest Tokamak fusion research machine in the country, also funded by DOE. Research results from this facility are key to the development of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France, intended to produce the first continuous fusion reaction apart from the sun. Although the uranium fuel for fission reactors may run out in 50-100 years, within that time span we can hope to realize essentially limitless power production from fusion reactors, with little or no hazardous waste product. BTW the largest lode of uranium ore in the US is down the road from where I now live in Virginia, but given community fears of digging the stuff up, I doubt it will ever be mined.

Regarding pumped hydro storage, I live a few miles from a pair of artificial reservoirs built with private capital by AEP in the 1960s. The generators on the main dam operate in reverse at night to pump water from the lower reservoir back into the upper, to be released during the day to feed the variable load. Problem is, the water level in the lower reservoir varies as much as 20 feet per day, which depresses the value of land abutting the lower lake. Regardless of governmental regulation, local property owners will have strong reservations about permitting widespread use of pumped hydro power.

The reason utilities build large generating plants is pure economics: small distributed generators will never compete in thermal efficiency or maintenance cost with large plants. So unless we are willing to foot the extra cost, the idea of little green generators in every backyard or neighborhood will remain a fantasy.

In the 1980s I built a house in Maine with the objective of economizing as much as possible on energy and capital costs. The Central Maine Power Company installed two meters, one for the daytime load and the second metered at a lower rate for off-peak load. We installed German-made energy storage heaters in each room (ceramic bricks were heated at night by electricity), saving the capital cost of a furnace and ductwork; and we connected an over-size water heater to the off-peak meter. We put concrete thermal mass behind large south-facing windows, and had wood stoves in the living areas for ambience and emergency heat. The system worked like a champ through the Maine winters.

Regarding hybrid vehicles, I bought a Ford Escape hybrid three years ago, and have rolled up over 35,000 miles with no power train maintenance issues. When I bought the car (with tax credit, thank you), I figured the hybrid premium was justified over a 5-year life with gas at about $2.75 a gallon. Last summer I made money; not so now, with gas at $1.50 locally.

BTW I share your agnostic position on global warming; the more I hear ignorant politicians and their followers rant about it, the less I believe in it. The decisions I have made were primarily based on economics, with some consideration of being an early user of new technology. Heaven save us from more ill-considered Washington mandates.