NYSEG receives funds to study wind-energy storage in salt caverns

Improved reliability of the electric grid is the goal of Energy East and its subsidiary New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) through a compressed-air-energy storage demonstration project that received a $29.6 million award from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"This proposed facility would use abundant and inexpensive off-peak electricity to inject compressed air into an underground cavern," says Clayton Ellis, manager of corporate communications for NYSEG, which has offices in Kirkwood and Ithaca 'Then, when electricity is needed, the compressed air would be withdrawn from storage, heated via combustion with natural gas or preheated from the exhaust of natural-gas turbines, and then directed through a turbine to generate electricity"

The result is a facility that can assist in better utilizing intermittent renewable-energy resources, as it can be used to accommodate the impact of fluctuations and uncertain load changes, Ellis says.

The project includes the planning, design, engineering, construction, operation, performance monitoring, and cost-benefit assessment of the facility to be located in an existing salt cavern in the town of Reading near Watkins Glen. There's already an existing high-pressure natural-gas pipeline on the site, as well as double-circuit 115-kilovolt electric transmission lines nearby.