Battery and Storage Technology

In his recent article on some of the misconceptions about the feasibility of replacing conventional power sources with wind, Chris Bell points out there is no reliable method of storing electricity produced in the peak wind hours. Unfortunately Bell, doesn't seem to be aware that this is a well-known problem in the wind-energy industry and is being overcome very quickly.

ZESS 500: This is new zinc based storage system that will be used at the Dundalk Institute of Technology in Ireland. The system will be installed alongside their existing wind turbine--which is already providing half of the Institutes power needs.

Encore Clean Energy: This Vancouver-based company is developing compressed-air-based storage systems using their proprietary device, the "MPG". "The MPG can use many different sources of energy - one of them the compressed air from these proposed wind energy storage facilities - to generate the pressures required to propel the MPG's "Magnetic Piston" at high velocities, back-and-forth, through a linear alternator to generate power according to Faraday's Law of Induction." - from energybulletin.net

Battery Stimulus Package: The US government is also aware of the storage problems of wind (and many other alternative, clean energy sources). The Congressional stimulus bill speaks for itself. "The nearly $790 billion economic stimulus legislation contains tens of billions of dollars in loans, grants, and tax incentives for advanced battery research and manufacturing, as well as incentives for plug-in hybrids and improvements to the electrical grid, which could help create a market for these batteries." from technologyreview.com