Trapped wind 'to ease power bills'

Wind turbines would be used in the energy-saving process.

A £200m plan to store compressed air in chasms deep beneath County Antrim could help make it cheaper to produce 'green electricity', Irish energy company Gaelectric has announced.

The company said jobs could be provided for 200 people during construction of the project.

The scheme would use wind to generate compressed air which would be stored underground until needed.

The air would then be used to drive electricity generating turbines.

Keith McGrane, head of offshore energy and and energy storage at Gaelectric, said the unique geology in the Larne area could be used to develop a Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) plant.

Energy storage is proven to be able to reduce both the peaks and troughs in demands leading to higher efficiency Professor Neil Hewitt University of Ulster

"One of the greatest challenges to unlocking the potential of wind power is to match generation with periods of peak demand," he said.

"Gaelectric intends to deploy compressed air into underground geological caverns in the Larne area as a means to store energy generated from wind, for release during periods of peak demand or as required by the grid operator.

"Such technology has the potential to revolutionise renewable power-generation from wind."

Renewable

There are two CAES plant operational elsewhere in the world - one in the United States and one in Germany.

Professor Neil Hewitt, director of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies at the University of Ulster, said such a scheme could reduce the costs of producing renewable electricity.

"Energy storage is proven to be able to reduce both the peaks and troughs in demands, leading to higher efficiency," he said.

"Storage can allow alternative energy formats to reduce operating costs through energy which is supplied at some earlier time and delivered when required."