STORAGE OF ENERGY

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 50, 27 August 1921, Page 11

STORAGE OF ENERGY

ARTESIAN itESERVOIRS FOR INTERMITTENT^ SUPPLIES.

There are many sources of power in naturo —the sun's radiation, wind, tha tides and waves of the sea—which could be turned to the use and convenience of man. were it not for the difficulty that they are intermittent or, irregular, whereas practical applications in general demand a more or less constant supply. This- difficulty would be overcome if a cheap method of storage could be found, such as would enable the deficiency of the lean periods to b© made up by the surplus of the fat ones.

A Roumanian engineer, Mr. A. Beldimano, says the Times, sends an interesting suggestion for the solution of this problem, based on his experience of the oil fields of his own country He points out that, as is well known to geologists and practical oil engineers, clay strata, even when only a few feet thick, are absolutely gas tight and water tight, as is shown by the fact that natural gas has been kept compressed under them, at a pressure perhaps of 100 atmospheres, for thousands of, years, until man began to pierce them by sinking wells. He therefore proposes to drill ideep artesian wells at the highest point of an anticline where a water stratum is to be found boneath a fairly thick clay, stratum, and to drive his energy 1,, in the form of compressed air into the well, when the air will replace the water in the pores of the sand. of the water stratum' In this way h<s would obtain a cheap and absolutely air-tight container of any desired capacity In connection with this plan, he points out that in Germany old disused oolleries have already been used as reservoirs for storing air under pressure, being rendered''air-tight by a lining of clay. The compressed air in the reservoir could be conveyed by pipe lines to any desired point and used in motors for the production of mechanical power, or an electrio power station might be established at or. near the . reservoir and the power transmitted electrically. . Tho second part of his scheme contemplates the production of large quantities of compressed air, at a pressure of, say, 10 atmospheres from the energy of the waves of the sea. For this purpose'he would anchor pontoons in itho sea at a suitable distance from tho shore, and would instal them in air compressors with a simple mechanism operated by the> varying tension on the mooring line as tho pontoons are moved up and down by the waves. The compressed air thus obtained would bo conveyed by pipe lines to the artesian containers on land. Mr. Boldimano points out that this method of harnessing tho waves would require no pier or masonry work on shore, and that the pontoons, containing only tho simplest engines, which would need no attention, except lor an occasional inspection a few times a year, could be constructed in any ship-building yard, and need only be moored in a speoial way by anchors, like lightships. As the size of the power plant would depend on the number of pontoons in operation, it would be possible to begin with a comparatively small installation, and subsequently enlarge it, according to requirements. ,