Electrical Energy Storage Research Group
Georgetown, Colorado
Current research at CU on large scale electrical energy storage is led by Dr. Frank Barnes, and involves five graduate student research assistants.
This work is sponsored by:
The University of Colorado at Boulder Energy Initiative
The Colorado Energy Research Institute (CERI)
Current studies are exploring methods and sites for capturing, storing, and releasing large amounts of electrical energy. The motivation for this research is a need to provide a buffer between
electricity generation and electricity demand to optimize utilization of renewable energy sources, optimize the use of transmission line infrastructure,
and generate revenue by capturing otherwise wasted energy.
Several possible technologies for electricity storage have been studied including high energy batteries, flywheels, superconducting magnetics, compressed air, and pumped hydroelectric. The major areas of ongoing research within these topics are conventional pumped hydroelectric (PHES) plant siting in Colorado, compressed air energy storage (CAES), aquifer underground pumped hydroelectric energy storage for agricultural applications, and carbon trading analysis and the effectiveness of Kyoto protocols.