RWE, GE to develop power storage technology

London - RWE Power and GE are to jointly develop a zero-emission storage technology, called Advanced Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (AA-CAES) under an agreement aimed at finding new large-scale energy storage system that better align distribution of supply and demand. A joint feasibility study is to be completed by end of 2008, while a first demonstration plant is scheduled for 2012.

According to GE, AA-CAES is a zero-emission storage technology with higher efficiency than current energy storage systems. A key challenge for the partners will be to develop a compressor technology that can withstand high temperatures during compression and ensure high availability of compressed air energy storage (CAES) power plants. To prevent this heat from being lost, it is extracted from the compressed air before the latter is stored in a cavern, and directed to a separate thermal energy storage.

“The highly fluctuating power input is expected to increase in the future, if only because of the planned massive expansion of wind energy. Therefore it is important to address this challenge and develop concepts for efficient storage in due time”, explains Dr. Johannes Lambertz, CEO of RWE Power AG, Fossil-Fired Power Plants portfolio.

"We believe that thanks to GE’s vast experience in compressor technology, we have the capability to study and propose unique solutions as an alternative to the current state of art,” said Claudi Santiago, president and CEO of GE’s Oil & Gas, which will study the compressor technology required.

The most interesting sites for CAES power plants are regions where caverns of worked-out salt mines are present, according to Ricardo Cordoba, president of GE Energy, Western Europe and Northern Africa. "This is an important project for GE. We are pleased to be partnering once again with RWE Power, a long time collaborator of ours.”