Storing Energy Using Graphite

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/3608

Storing Energy Using Graphite

Posted by Big Gav on February 10, 2008 - 2:02pm
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The Canberra Times recently published an article, rather misleadingly entitled "Generating solar energy in the dark", which looked at the use of purified graphite for thermal energy storage.

The company developing the technology is called Lloyd Energy Systems, and they are prototyping solar energy storage, a wind-to-heat plant and a small-scale plant that combines water treatment, energy storage and steam turbine generation.

The company has received a $5 million Federal Government grant as part of its advanced energy storage technology program in the western NSW town of Lake Cargelligo, with Country Energy agreeing to purchase the power generated. Lloyd Energy also has an agreement with Ergon Energy in Queensland to build a $30million plant at Cloncurry in Queensland, partially funded by the Queensland state government, which the Sydney Morning Herald reported on last year.



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Graphite based storage does not seem to have been used anywhere else in the world thus far. Storage for renewable energy has usually been limited to compressing air underground (Compress Air Energy Storage or CAES), where it can later be released under pressure, or pumped hydro, where the power is used to pump water back up into dams that can generate hydro-electricity. While both techniques are effective, they require suitable locations and complex infrastructure to be put in place.

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[TheWraith]

1. Wow. That's... incredibly dangerous.

They do know that graphite burns, right? And that once burning, it's very, very hard to put out? This is not an experiment I'd want anywhere near me.