Vorts, A recent comment I read several weeks ago from my subscription to Kiplinger Forecasts caught my attention.
The newsletter claimed that there would be a [new] form of energy storage technology that would debut sometime in 2007 in both New York and California. The technology would allow utilities to make electricity overnight and store it, presumably more efficiently. I asked Kiplinger if they could be more specific about what kind of "technology" was involved. Here's what I found out: Check out Beacon Power, http://www.beaconpower.com, specifically the topic on "Energy Storage Systems." Apparently, flywheel technology will be used. Here's additional info on the project from the government Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability. http://www.electricity.doe.gov/program/electric_rd_estorage.cfm?section=program&level2=estorage or http://tinyurl.com/nlva3 And here's another link to Sandia National Laboratories, where they also discuss the Beacon Flywheel System. See: http://www.sandia.gov/ess/ " Beacon Flywheel System Installed at DUIT Facility As part of the CEC / DOE energy storage collaboration, Beacon Power has completed assembly of a flywheel system to provide grid frequency regulation. The 100 kW / 15 min system consists of seven 500 lb, 22,000 rpm, magnetically levitated rotors. After completion of factory testing, the system was trucked across the U.S. for further testing at the PG&E DUIT facility in San Ramon, CA. The system was inaugurated Dec. 6, 2005 at an event attended by representatives of CEC, DOE, Cal ISO and PG&E (Beacon Press Release)." Some related additional resources listed are: Electricity Storage Association http://www.energystorage.org/ Another interesting resource to check out is: The Energy Blog - Energy Storage section http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/energy_storage/index.html or http://tinyurl.com/rnwhl BTW, I noticed they discuss the merits of switchgrass at this blog site. ...and finally the following publication is available at Amazon Books. Energy Storage: A Nontechnical Guide (PennWell Publishing, 2005) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159370027X/sr=1-1/qid=1139408741/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9696362-2352136?%5Fencoding=UTF8 or http://tinyurl.com/lbqq4 Enjoy your weekend! Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
