The New York Times has published an article on an aging power grid and the potential setbacks to wind energy and other sources of renewable energy.

Current electric transmission lines are not able to handle the load produced my massive wind farms such as the Maple Ridge Wind Farm in New York.  The 200 turbine strong wind farm, is being forced to shut down production at times to cope with fees that are associated with pumping too much electrical current into the power grid.  This bottle neck is limiting the advances of wind power and is one of the major drawbacks slowing down the implementation of a nation wide renewable energy grid. 

While wind turbines located in places like the Mid-West can generate much more power than the same turbines placed on the east coast, there is not yet a reliable way of transmitting the electricity needed across many states.  Since control of power grids is generally left to state governments, there is little incentive to provide better transmission to out-of-state facilities.  Within each state, transmission lines may be owned by many different companies, causing any upgrades to be a painstaking process.  The Energy Policy Act of 2005 allowed the U.S. government to extend approval of transmission lines in the event that states are not providing upgrades and maintenance, through this has led to little direct expansion and infrastructure upgrades, especially in relation to peak supplies of inconsistent energy sources such as wind power.

The issue of transmitting electricity throughout the United States is something that must be recognized and remedied before further goals of expanding our renewable energy base can be implemented further.  The problems facing the aging power grid are by no means new.  In 2001, North American Electric Reliability Council, was advising congress on the problems facing the current power infrastructure.  Seven years later we are still facing the same concerns but on a much larger scale.  Incentives for renewable energy are great, but the United States must realize that it means nothing if transporting electricity can not be carried out in an efficient, reliable manner.

Companies such as MidAmerican Energy, which happens to lead the country in generation of wind power, and American Electric Power are making steps to help improve transmission lines that will carry some of the renewable energy that is generated throughout the U.S.  This proposal shows that energy companies have something to gain by working together to transmit the power that they are producing.  Without partnerships like these, future renewable energy projects can not proceed at a profitable level. 

While, further development in technologies such as Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) and fuel cells, may allow temporary storage of electricity generated by renewable energy sources, transporting energy from state to state is still a needed upgrade to contend with the U.S. goal of energy independence.

Yesterday, PSEG Global LLC, announced a partnership with energy storage expert, Dr. Michael Nakhamkin, to form Energy Storage and Power LLC in order to promote a new generation of Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) technology.  CAES is an innovative process of trapping energy generated by nearly any mass electrical generation technique, and storing it in the form of compressed air, in reservoirs secured within the earth. 

CAES technology functions by compressing air during off-peak hours, that is then pumped underground into air tight mines and reservoirs.  Later during peak energy consumption periods, the compressed air is released and heated using small amounts of natural gas to power a turbine which creates electricity.  This process removes the need to use natural gas to both heat and compress the air during peak periods.  Electrical rates can be better balanced to deal with hot summers and cold winters. 

More balanced electrical rates are not the only benefit to using this technology.  Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, can be used to initially compress the air before it is pumped into the ground.  This gives the electrical grid more freedom from the disadvantages of the intermittent processes of generating electricity from solar and wind technologies.  Energy can thus be stored for future use during the night in the case of solar plants and in periods of calm in relation to wind farms. 

The drawback to Compressed Air Energy Storage currently lies in the fact that it still contributes to emissions by requiring natural gas to heat the air being pumped from the reservoirs.  Though this amount of natural gas is smaller than traditional gas power plants, CAES can not claim to be a true environmentally friendly technology, just yet.  Since natural gas is a finite resource, this is not a viable long term solution in its current state.

PSEG and Dr. Nakhamkin hope to build upon past successes of CAES and develop a technology that is scalable to the current needs of cities and renewable resources projects.  With future innovations, it may be possible to utilize this technology in conjunction with alternative energy sources to create a truly emission free, renewable source of cheap energy.

This technology could prove to be a beneficial addition to areas such as Iowa that already generate large amount of wind energy. Current project plans of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities hope to design a CAES system with a 200MW capacity fed from a 100MW wind farm. This could prove wind power is a viable resource and reliable technology to further promote.