International. Three new projects at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will leverage geothermal energy to promote new energy storage applications as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Modernization Initiative.
The projects, which have been recently funded, will explore unconventional uses of geothermal technologies to improve network reliability, resiliency and security.
The Department of Energy's Office of Geothermal Technologies announced eight new projects through the Beyond Batteries Lab Call, of which the Lab will lead two and support another.
The first of the projects is entitled "Alternative CAES Technology Using Depleted Unconventional Gas Wells and Subsurface Thermal Energy Storage." Conventionally, compressed air energy storage uses excess electricity to compress air in underground salt caverns. When electricity demand grows, this energy can be released through a turbine to provide electricity.
It is a cost-effective technology, they explain, but few locations have the necessary geological characteristics. This NREL-led project will explore the use of a more common feature, which is depleted unconventional shale gas wells. The project will consider storing compressed air in depleted wells and will study how to store waste heat from the underground compression process to improve overall efficiency.
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