Israeli company Augwind Energy today unveiled its plans for the first commercial AirBattery project in Germany. According to the company, the facility will be the world’s first industrial-scale installation of a storage system using CAES (compressed air energy storage) technology. It is intended to serve as seasonal storage for energy storage over many weeks and months.
The AirBattery system combines the principle of pumped storage hydroelectric power plants with compressed air storage. Water circulates between underground chambers to compress and decompress air on a large scale. Surplus energy is used to compress air to pressures of 50 to over 200 bar, depending on demand and the geomorphological characteristics of the cavern, and to feed it into underground caverns. According to Augwind, a typical cavern can store enough compressed air to generate three to eight gigawatt hours of electricity.
To recover the energy, the compressed air is passed through water-filled chambers. The water drives a turbine, which in turn generates electricity. In its demonstration plant in Israel, Augwind claims to have achieved an AC-to-AC overall efficiency of 47 percent with the AirBattery. The company expects efficiencies of over 60 percent for commercial plants.
»With its unused salt caverns, industrial leadership, and ambitious climate goals, Germany is the ideal starting point for our first commercial AirBattery plant. Our goal is to become Europe’s preferred partner for long-term energy storage over several weeks,« said Or Yogev, founder and CEO of Augwind.
The pilot plant is scheduled to go into operation in 2027/2028. The project aims to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of Augwind’s CAES technology and enable its expansion throughout Europe by 2030. According to Augwind, there are over 400 caverns in Germany that are suitable for use as AirBatteries. The company estimates their geological storage potential at around 330 terawatt hours. The company estimates storage costs at US$10 to US$15 per kilowatt hour for a two-week period, with a service life of around 40 years.
© PHOTON
