Faraday’s dynamo invented in 1832 is still the primary source of electricity, although solar is beginning to complement it. Batteries remain the only way to store this power, although hydro and wind are sources of raw energy. Now Scottish scientists are imagining stored energy and electricity in an exciting new application of Faraday technology. Moreover, Discover Magazine believes their geological generator “could seriously make a dent in a country’s energy production.”
A Geological Generator That Could Slow the Warming
The geological generator is a layer of porous rocks in the North Sea between the United Kingdom and northern Europe. The bold plan envisages using renewable energy to compress and store air in these pores.
When the winds did not blow and the sun didn’t shine they would use the compressed air to spin turbines. This really sounds too good to be true, but then again perhaps it is not. The scientists say their system is a “potentially viable large-scale inter-seasonal electricity storage technology.” Moreover the geological generator would close the loop where 80% generation capacity came from renewable energy sources.
How Much Electricity Would the Porous Generator Produce?
The theoretical generator could store energy “equivalent to 160% of the United Kingdom’s electricity consumption for January and February 2017.” This equates to 77 to 96 terawatt hours with a roundtrip efficiency of at least 54% the scientists say.
Therefore it could power the entire United Kingdom during two cold, overcast months when demand is 25% higher than summer. The scientists call their system PM-CAES for ‘porous media compressed air energy storage’. Nature Energy believes “It’s a simple-sounding mix of technologies that could … mitigate the trends that are pushing the global climate to extremes.”
However, to reach that level of energy someone would need to drill 7,000 wells in the sea bed. Discover Magazine says “It’s just a matter of wanting the geological generator enough.”
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