Compressed air energy storage has bags of potential

The only thing you can say for certain about British weather is that it’s unpredictable. One minute the sun is shining. The next, you’re soaked through by April showers. Given our eclectic weather and island status, you’d think that we’d be an ideal location for wind power. But despite leading the world in offshore wind capacity, wind contributes less than three per cent of the UK’s energy needs. The power these sources generate is intermittent, and that’s a big sticking point for investment in the technology.

If, however, we could store that energy on a large scale and release it when needed, our low-carbon future would look far brighter. The problem is that electrical energy can’t be stored directly at an economic rate. It first has to be transformed into another form, and doing so causes losses in efficiency. Engineers are working hard to address this problem. The current front runners for energy storage are pumped hydro plants, batteries, thermal and compressed air plants. Of these, compressed air energy storage (CAES) is now being backed by growing numbers as showing the greatest potential for large-scale, cost-effective storage. Proponents say CAES could also help solve the problem of intermittent energy.