Patent-protected fully scalable Liquid Air Energy Storage and Regeneration (LAESAR) technology

Epicam is developing Patent-protected fully scalable Liquid Air Energy Storage and Regeneration (LAESAR) technology targeted to provide all the energy storage needed to enable global power grids to operate solely on renewable energy sources and deliver global electric power at the lowest possible cost. LAESAR also incorporates cryogenic capture of the carbon dioxide from the process air at no extra cost. As a long-term project, covering the period in which de-carbonisation of global industry, global transport and global agriculture are expected to occur, a rapid acceleration in global demand for electricity will stimulate the expansion of wind powered energy. The associated increase in energy storage will lead to a situation in which the carbon dioxide capture will reach the IPCC target of 10 gigatons per year and the climate will then repair itself over 30 - 40 years at negative cost.

The project concept is for LAESAR to be applied to transform wind turbines into local energy storage facilities by replacing the electricity generator in the nacelle with an air liquefication unit matched to the capacity of the turbine. This eliminates the containment losses which occur when the grid cannot accept power from wind and the turbine is shut down in consequence. It also simplifies the management of demand and supply on the grid. Energy is stored cold as liquid air and heat of compression, in separate thermally insulated tanks onsite and regeneration occurs at ground level, where an Epicam expansion engine converts the stored energy to shaft power to drive the generator and deliver power to the grid. Thus, the action of the turbine continues uninterrupted so long as there is wind and reservoirs are also continuously replenished.