Ice Could Be Key To Storage of Renewable Energy
Posted by Big Gav in calmac, energy storage, ice
TreeHugger has a post on storing excess wind power in the form of ice - Ice Could Be Key To Storage of Renewable Energy .
75% of our electricity goes into buildings, and much of that runs air conditioning. The entire system is built to try and cope with the peak loads that come in summer. TreeHugger has covered ice storage systems before; they simply make ice at night, when electricity is cheaper and it is cooler, so it is easier to make, and then run air conditioning during the daytime when it is hot and electricity is in short supply. This can knock the peak off the demand curve and significantly reduce the need for new power plants.
But we learned In the Calmac Booth that it can have another significant benefit: It can act as a battery for wind power.
In some areas, the wind blows stronger at night than in the day, but the nation is running on base load power and the extra power from the wind is wasted. But Icebank storage systems could use that power and convert it to ice. It then acts as a battery, storing the energy at night to cool buildings during the day.
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