Underground 'Wind Mines' Could Keep Datacenters Powered

Nerval's Lobster writes "Major IT vendors have been including custom-built wind- and solar-power farms in their datacenter construction plans. But while wind and solar power may be clean, they're often unreliable, especially by the standards of datacenters that need a way to keep operating through any unexpected surges or drops in power. How about saving the wind that generates the power? That might work, according to researchers at the federal Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), and U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. A study published in February (PDF) outlined the potential benefit of pumping pressurized air into caverns deep underground as a way to store wind energy, then letting it out whenever demand spikes, or the wind drops, and the above-ground facilities need help spinning enough turbines to keep power levels steady. The technique, called Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) isn't new: existing CAES plants in Alabama and Huntorf, Germany (built in 1991 and 1978, respectively) store compressed air in underground salt caverns hollowed out by solution mining (pumping salt-saturated water out of concentrations of salt buried far underground and replacing it with fresh water). But implementing such a technique for datacenters might take a little work. The BPA and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have already identified, and are evaluating, sites in the Pacific Northwest that would be suitable for CAES underground reservoirs; the first, which could be located in Washington's Columbia Hills could—via existing CAES technology—store enough compressed air to generate a steady 207MW for 40 days of continuous usage, ultimately delivering 400 additional hours without adding any compressed air."

Re:Complex problem, many answers

[alexander_686]

Strike point 1 – we are talking about storage for grid generated by wind turbines. These things are out in the middle of nowhere. Size is not a major factor that would affect the storage cost. Even if built on prime corn land that is going for a thousand dollars an acre you can just burry these things and plow over the top.

You run these at relatively low pressure. That diminishes the impact of points 2 & 4.

That leaves 3. “Wind Alley” – from Texas to the Upper Mid-West is geologically stable.

This solution is only good for a very few select sites. You need wind and cheap caves. You can do the same with water – pumping it uphill, but the Wind Alley tends to lack water and hills.

Re:Or you could use rivers and dams for storage

[tyrione]

The lost GDP in Salmon exports outweighs the Power exports in Washington State: Grand Coulee's primarily provides power to the US Government facilities, not anyone in Washington State. It also provides power to Arizona. People buy power from Bonneville Power in Washington State. The return of proper salmon runs will currently add > $4 Billion in GDP.