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1.  

   

   Atkray (profile), Apr 17th, 2012 @ 10:20pm

   
   

   IP will save the US

   from the Beacon power article
   
   "Government attorneys also are criticizing what they said were early estimates by the Massachusetts-based company that its New York plant was worth $68 million and its so-called “flywheel intellectual property” held a value of $28 million to $47 million."

    

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2.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Apr 18th, 2012 @ 1:13am

   
   

   There are some interesting liquid-sodium heat sink ideas floating around for high-energy solar, too. Works better in some climates than others, I gather.

    

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3.  

   

   Hanno (profile), Apr 18th, 2012 @ 1:44am

   
   

   Hydrogen and Methane

   What's currently gaining a lot of attention in Germany is the technology to transform electricity into hydrogen or methane.
   
   The advantage: It can be put into the natural gas grid which is already there with lots of storage facilities. It can take up to 5 percent hydrogen (and there are discussions if it could be much more with slight technology changes). Methane can be put into the grid in an unlimited amount.
   
   The disadvantage: It's relatively expensive and inefficient.
   
   Enertrag, one of the companies engaged in it, has some english info:
   https://www.enertrag.com/en/project-development/hybrid-power-plant.html

    

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4.  

   

   Call me Al, Apr 18th, 2012 @ 2:49am

   
   

   I read about another one recently. Essentially they use any excess energy from wind turbines to pump water behind a dam. Then on those occasions when the wind is insufficient they release the water through turbines and so generate power that way.
   
   I'm sure its inefficient but it seems a sensible solution to the problem of how to make batteries big enough.

    

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5.  

   

   A Guy (profile), Apr 18th, 2012 @ 4:35am

   
   

   Re:

   Actually, those are some of the most efficient energy storage schemes available today. The only problem is that not many sites has suitable resources to handle a large volume of stored water and viable renewable energy sources close enough to each other.

    

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6.  

   

   Michael Ho (profile), Apr 18th, 2012 @ 12:58pm

   
   

   Re: Hydrogen and Methane

   The electrolysis of water to get hydrogen doesn't seem like a great way to store surplus energy.... and storing hydrogen isn't exactly a fun task either.

    

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