We Store Energy in Compressed Air
We aim to produce the world’s cleanest and most economical energy storage systems. Compressing air creates heat energy. Until now, this was wasted, drastically reducing efficiency.
Our innovation: an elegant method of capturing this heat energy and regenerating useful energy from it. We inject a fine, dense mist of water spray which rapidly absorbs the heat energy of compression and provides it during expansion.
Our Approach
Our System is Fully Reversible
To store energy, an electric motor drives an air compressor. To deliver energy, we reverse the process–the air compressor becomes an expander, and the electric motor becomes a generator.
Heat from compression is stored or routed to nearby buildings, providing heating. During expansion, heat is extracted from storage, or buildings providing air conditioning. This dramatically increases building energy efficiency.
Experimental Results
We have shown that we can achieve very high thermodynamic efficiencies without sacrificing performance. We have achieved these high thermodynamic efficiencies at higher RPMs than many thought possible. This is crucial to achieving low cost: the higher the RPM, the higher the power of the same machine, and the lower the cost per kW.
Storage
Air can be stored in simple, low cost air storage tanks, packed in a convenient shipping container form factor using industry standard pipes and matching ASME and ISO safety standards. For truly massive installations, air can be stored in underground caverns which is the standard for large scale natural gas storage.
Flexible and Modular Energy Storage System
The compressor/expander - which provides power, and the air tanks - which provide storage, are distinct modules that can be scaled independently. This allows our storage system to be tailored to customer applications.
Power Unit
- 500 kW modules
- 20+ year lifetime
Storage Unit
- 750 kWh modules
- Shipping container form factor
- ASME certified