OQAPA - Wind Energy Storage System

"The combination of wind energy generation and energy storage can produce a source of electricity that is functionally equivalent to a baseload coal or nuclear power plant.
A model was developed to assess the technical and environmental performance of baseload wind energy systems using compressed air energy storage.
The analysis examined several systems that could be operated in the midwestern United States under a variety of operating conditions.
The systems can produce substantially more energy than is required from fossil or other primary sources to construct and operate them.
By operating them at a capacity factor of 80%, each evaluated system achieved an effective primary energy efficiency of at least five times greater than the most efficient fossil combustion technology, with greenhouse gas emission rates less than 20% of the least emitting fossil technology currently available.
Life-cycle emission rates of NOX and SO2 are also significantly lower than fossil-based systems."

- Paul Denholm, Gerald L. Kulcinski, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Tracey Holloway, Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), University of Wisconsin-Madison

The following describes a potential application of the Quasiturbine that is unique to the Ontario Quasiturbine Application Promotion Association.

This application is for an Energy Storage System that uses a Quasiturbine in conjunction with a Wind Turbine.

The system being proposed would couple a Quasiturbine with a "standard Wind Turbine" that runs an Electric Generator.
In such a system, when the shaft of the Wind Turbine rotates so does the shaft of the Quasiturbine (they can be effectively mounted in-line).

This combination of mechanical apparatus can thus effectively create a "Co-generation Wind Turbine" system.

In such a system:

Compressed Air is used as a short term storage medium for the Wind Energy that is captured by the Wind Turbine blades
This compressed air could be effectively stored in the Wind Turbine tower

Modern Wind Turbines are commonly constructed using a hollow steel tower
The tower could be 'sealed' and used as a relatively large compressed air storage chamber
All wind turbines require a tower

The primary purpose of a tower in conventional Wind Turbines is to hold the Generating unit up in the air
The tower has very few other practical use except for this primary purpose

Only moderate pressures would be required to store fairly significant amounts of energy (up to several hundred PSI, or 5-30 atmospheres)

With the capture and storage of energy in this manner, one can thus release this stored pressure energy (given the appropriate control technology) using a separate Quasiturbine
The separate Quasiturbine could be located at the base of the tower
This separate Quasiturbine generation unit could be used to generate more electricity than the Wind Turbine itself may be able to produce at any given moment

When electricity demand is high there is a possibility that the output of a Wind Turbine is low
It may also be possible that the wind will not blowing at all at times when the power is needed

The compressed air in a "Co-generation Wind Turbine" could be released through the separate Quasiturbine at the base of the tower on demand to:

Generate excess electrical power on demand
Generate electrical power even if the wind turbine is not generating enough to meet demand
Generate electrical power even if blades of the Wind Turbine are not turning at all

Storage (in the form of pressure energy) would occur when power demands on the Wind Turbine are lower than the output of the Wind Turbine

This would likely occur throught the night when demand is lower

Excess electrical production on the electrical grid or by other Wind Turbines (in a wind farm) could be used to drive or assist driving other Quasiturbines to store excess compressed air

With the addition of storage, "Co-generation Wind Turbines" could start to be considered "base load" devices that build real capacity to a decentralized network.

In Ontario, there is a huge market potential for wind energy, especially given the Ontario Government's support for Wind Energy and associated renewable energy technologies with the passing of the "Standard Offer Contract" legislation allowing for feed-in to the electricity grid in long-term fixed price contacts.

The consequence of being able to cost-effectively store even small amounts of Wind energy and release this energy for even short periods of time at a rapid rate could make the viability and acceptability of Wind Turbines that much more encouraging and would provide a tremendous boost for the industry in Canada.

Click here to see a concept Wind Energy Storage System using Compressed Air (compressed using a Quasiturbine).