Big energy storage bag

What is an energy bag?

An Energy Bag is a cable-reinforced fabric vessel that is anchored to the sea (or lake) bed at significant depths to be used for underwater compressed air energy storage. In 2011 and 2012, three prototype sub-scale Energy Bags have been tested underwater in the first such tests of their kind.

How much energy can an energy bag store?

Just one Energy Bag can store approximately 70 MW hours of energy, or the equivalent of 14 hours of energy generation from the largest offshore wind turbine models. The Energy Bag is expected to cost far below what an equivalent battery storage system would.

Can energy bags be used for underwater compressed air storage?

Conclusions This paper has described the design and testing of three prototype Energy Bags: cable-reinforced fabric vessels used for underwater compressed air energy storage. Firstly, two 1.8 m diameter Energy Bags were installed in a tank of fresh water and cycled 425 times.

Could energy bags be used to store electricity underwater?

In the Bag: Energy bags like this 5-meter-diameter one, from Thin Red Line Aerospace, of Canada, could be used to store electricity underwater as compressed air. Engineers hope the technology could one day smooth out the intermittency of electricity produced by offshore wind farms and other renewable energy sources.

How much does an energy bag weigh?

The prototype energy bag, designed by Thin Red Line’s Maxim de Jong, displaces 40 tons of seawater, and is to be anchored to the seabed by its array of Vectran® fibre tendons capable of restraining a total load of 250 tons—yet the entire systems weighs only 75 kilograms (165 pounds).

Are energy bags ready for deployment?

However, as a result of the tests presented in this paper, Energy Bags are now well understood, well developed, and proven in real-world conditions, and are ready for deployment at larger scales within a pilot underwater compressed air energy storage plant.