US firms propose landmark clean energy project

1 October 2014


Four US energy firms are proposing to build a compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility and a 2100 MW wind farm as part of an $8 billion initiative to provide the Los Angeles area with clean energy.

The four companies have dubbed the project "the 21st Century's Hoover Dam" - likening it to the pioneering hydroelectric dam in Nevada that was built in the 1930s - and plan to submit a project proposal to the Southern California Public Power Authority by early 2015.

Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy, Magnum Energy, Dresser-Rand and Duke-American Transmission would link the proposed wind farm in Wyoming with the CAES facility in Utah via a 525 mile transmission line. The CAES plant would store energy generated by the wind farm, overcoming the problem of intermittency and enabling the reliable supply of large quantities of electricity to demand centres whenever needed.

Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy, Magnum Energy and Dresser-Rand would install the $1.5-billion CAES system at a site near Delta, Utah, 130 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. It would use four vertical caverns, each 400 m high and 1.1 million m3 in volume, carved out of an underground salt formation.

During periods of low customer demand, the storage facility would use excess electricity from the wind farm to compress and inject high-pressure air into the caverns for storage.

During periods of high customer demand, the facility would use the stored, high-pressure compressed air, combined with a small amount of natural gas, to power eight generators that would produce electricity.

Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy would build, own and operate the $4 billion wind farm near Cheyenne, Wyoming. The $2.6 billion high voltage transmission line would be built by Duke-American Transmission and would enter service in 2023.

A separate, existing 490 mile transmission line - traversing Utah, Nevada and California - would transport electricity from the Utah energy storage facility to the Los Angeles area.

Sian Crampsie

 



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