StratoSolar
+1 408 821 7036
  • Home
  • Technology
    • Key Enabling Insights
    • PV Generation Platforms
    • Gravity Energy Storage
    • Communications Platform
    • Proven Technologies
    • Example Complete Energy Solution for the UK
    • Common Concerns >
      • Airspace
      • Hurricanes
      • FAQ
    • Gallery of Images >
      • Platform Shadow Videos
      • Japan Energy Solution Map
      • 2050 World Energy Sankey Diagram
      • 2050 Synthetic Fuel solution
      • 2050 Electricity solution
      • Climate Change Videos
  • Benefits
    • Low Cost Generation
    • Low Cost Energy Storage
    • Cost Reduction Roadmap
    • Sustainable and Scale-able
    • Zero Carbon
    • Energy Security
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Login
    • Presentations
    • Gallery >
      • PV Documents >
        • PV Big Picture policy level document
        • PV California deployment
        • PV Japan deployment
        • PV UK deployment
        • Wind and Buoyancy Forces
  • Related Sites
  • Solve for x Videos

StratoSolar now includes low cost gravity energy storage enabling a complete 24/7 clean energy solution

12/17/2013

Comments

 
The holy grail of alternative energy is practical, affordable energy storage. Without this, wind and solar energy can only be a partial solution to replacing fossil fuel energy. There is a growing awareness of the significance of this problem and a wide variety of technologies are gaining increased investment. However, the problem is hard and no technology as yet seems in sight of being both practical and affordable. The goal is $100/kWh, and/or $1/W with long life and high round trip efficiency. Most technologies exceed $500/kWh and have problems with life, efficiency and/or geography. The StratoSolar main page lists some companies trying new storage approaches in the  'related sites' list on the right.

StratoSolar PV electricity solved cost, reliability and geographic independence problems of Solar PV, but it still did not produce energy at night, and has been dependent on the eventual emergence of a viable energy storage technology.  Over recent months we have made a very significant breakthrough in energy storage technology intimately tied to the StratoSolar solution. This new invention makes StratoSolar PV power plants complete 24/7 producers of electricity.

The new StratoSolar technology is a variant of gravity energy storage.  The most common electricity energy storage method is pumped hydroelectric, which is a form of gravity energy storage. This pumps a mass of water from a low reservoir to a high reservoir, storing energy as gravitational potential energy. Gravitational potential energy is mass times height times gravitational acceleration. For pumped hydroelectric storage, the height is small, measured in hundreds of meters and the mass is large. Measured in tens of thousands of tonnes.

StratoSolar gravity energy storage instead makes use of the great height of platforms to store energy with relatively small masses. The height is about 20,000 meters, but the masses are measured in hundreds of tonnes. Winches raise the masses to store energy and lower them to recover energy.  Each kg of mass can store about 54Wh of gravitational potential energy. Stored energy can scale with generated PV electricity. Each square meter of PV panel can generate about .9kWh/day to 1.3kWh/day, depending on latitude and gravity energy storage can easily store about 300Wh to 500Wh for each square meter.  This balance of generation and storage allows a 24/7 electricity supply with the ability to respond to changing demand more quickly than expensive 'peaking generators'.

This approach costs about $125/kWh today but with volume can scale to much lower cost. It also has a long life, high reliability and high round trip efficiency.

So StratoSolar now provides a complete 24/7 replacement for fossil fuel electricity generation at lower cost and zero CO2 emissions.

By Edmund Kelly
Comments

    Ed Kelly

    President of StratoSolar

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    November 2010

    Categories

    All
    All Energy
    Alternative Energy
    Bill Gates
    China
    Desalination
    Developing World
    Energy
    Energy-investment
    Energy Policy
    Germany
    Helium
    Japan Energy Pv
    Land Use
    O3b
    Pv
    PV Bubble
    Pv Subsidies
    Stratosolar
    Us Subsidies
    Wireless Communications

    RSS Feed

 © 2023 StratoSolar Inc. All rights reserved. ​618 S. 8th Street, Suite 400B, Richmond, CA 94804
Contact Us