A Solution To Storing Renewable Energy
Storing Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is the future but it needs a solution to storing renewable energy. Energy suppliers need a reliable energy source and renewable energy is not always reliable. The wind often blows but it may not be blowing when you need a lot of power and the windmills may not be turning and shines every day but the sun never shines at night. Any reliable renewable energy source must have a way of storing potential energy to be released on demand.
There are various ways of storing energy being developed. One example is the huge solar plant in Spain. This uses the heat of the sun reflected off of thousands of mirrors which are all focused onto a tower that contains salts which are heated to melting point and pumped into storage containers.
The stored salts can then supply energy overnight by heating water and turning it into steam to drive turbines which produce electricity for up to fourteen hours from the suns heat stored in the molten salts. There is a good explanation of how this solution to storing renewable energy works in the video below.
