Comments on: Large-scale storage of wind energy using compressed nitrogen and old pipelines… Could it work?

By: Copper use in current and future applications » Blog Archive » Copper Trends (weekly)

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:15:39 +0000

[...] Large-scale storage of wind energy using compressed nitrogen and old pipelines… Could it work? [...]

By: jimmy

jimmy — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:16:39 +0000

Not surprisingly there is no mention any drawbacks at all.
Like, when air or any gas is compressed it’s temperature rises. During the storage interval this heat is lost while radiating into it’s enviorement. When the compressed gas is depressurized to utilize it’s store energy power it’s temperature drops, round trip efficiency are about 70%.
Also if nitrogen is to be use instead plain air, energy is lost to acquire it and provisions must be made to store the unpressureized in great volume to minumize further losses if it’s not stored after use.
Then there’s is the “several hundred, even thousand, kilometres of pipeline” that have to be 100% leak free. Any leak would be another energy loss.

By: OVIDIU

OVIDIU — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:56:42 +0000

In order to create this huge energy buffer capacity, all those “gas and oil pipe line (..) some of it unused” must be retrofitted and re-certified gor nitrogen. Just an administrative glitch yet fundamental for the safety of the whole entreprise. Now imagine the cost. Valves and fittings replacement, piping status assessment (thousands of miles ?), mechanical retrofit regarding all gas/oil operating standards to nitrogen operating standards, controls (sequences of operation and monitoring must be replaced 100%), training/replacement of the maint. personnel. All the above integrated to a minimum (we have different owners, different standards jurisdictions, different by-laws … so on) in order to operate like a grid. This is like a Marshall Plan for unused oil and gas pipelines in North A. Technically, can be done. Logistically, its a nightmare.