Tech
Train-Based Gravity Energy Storage Could Stabilize Electricity Grid
Mark Hoffman
First Posted: Apr 04, 2013 09:55 PM EDT
In an interesting twist on the old concept of gravity energy storage, mostly practiced in pumped-storage hydropower currently, Jim Kelly, CEO of Advanced Rail Energy Services in California, is looking forward to actually test the method of using trains instead of water - driving them uphill with excess electricity, and recouping electricity similar to a hybrid car when letting them roll back down.
An engineer with Southern California Edison for 38 years, Kelly and his team at ARES intend to store excess energy, created by photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines, by moving trains powered by electric engines and weighed down by many cars filled with gravel.
When demand in the grid reaches a peak, the trains can be allowed to roll down the hill at about 55 kilometers per hour. The electric motor that used electricity from the power grid to push the train uphill would become a dynamo, slowing down the train and pumping electricity back into the grid.
The latter method works so well that it currently “accounts for 93 percent of energy storage worldwide,” according to Slate, but it takes a lot of water stored in a surface reservoir, which can be difficult in places that are hot and dry.
Kelly’s train project would require eight miles of track to store 500 megawatt hours of electricity, which would be quite an effective and interesting system if it works out like that and is easy enough to maintain.
The city of Los Angeles is considering Kelly’s proposal as one of a series to build a more advanced and clean electricity grid.
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First Posted: Apr 04, 2013 09:55 PM EDT
In an interesting twist on the old concept of gravity energy storage, mostly practiced in pumped-storage hydropower currently, Jim Kelly, CEO of Advanced Rail Energy Services in California, is looking forward to actually test the method of using trains instead of water - driving them uphill with excess electricity, and recouping electricity similar to a hybrid car when letting them roll back down.
An engineer with Southern California Edison for 38 years, Kelly and his team at ARES intend to store excess energy, created by photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines, by moving trains powered by electric engines and weighed down by many cars filled with gravel.
When demand in the grid reaches a peak, the trains can be allowed to roll down the hill at about 55 kilometers per hour. The electric motor that used electricity from the power grid to push the train uphill would become a dynamo, slowing down the train and pumping electricity back into the grid.
The latter method works so well that it currently “accounts for 93 percent of energy storage worldwide,” according to Slate, but it takes a lot of water stored in a surface reservoir, which can be difficult in places that are hot and dry.
Kelly’s train project would require eight miles of track to store 500 megawatt hours of electricity, which would be quite an effective and interesting system if it works out like that and is easy enough to maintain.
The city of Los Angeles is considering Kelly’s proposal as one of a series to build a more advanced and clean electricity grid.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone