Compressed - Air Energy Storage

10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2009 - T-Rays, Picotechnology, HALE UAVs, Collaborative Search - Popular Mechanics.

To make wind power useful when the wind isn’t blowing, power companies need utility-scale energy storage—but batteries that big aren’t yet practical. One option is to use wind power to compress air for storage in tanks or caverns underground, then use the air to run a generator. That’s the goal of the Iowa Stored Energy Park in Dallas Center, Iowa, where site testing of recently drilled wells will be completed next year. The technology is also part of the design for the world’s largest wind farm, a 3000-megawatt project planned for Briscoe County in Texas.