Huntorf compressed-air energy storage
Almacenamiento de aire comprimido de Huntorf
- Date
- 1978 · confidence high
- Place
- Elsfleth, Lower Saxony, Germany
- Credited to
- NWK (Nordwestdeutsche Kraftwerke) and Brown Boveri
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A 290 MW plant that compresses air into salt caverns with surplus electricity and later releases it to drive a gas turbine. It was the world's first compressed-air energy storage plant.
It entered service in 1978 as peak-load backup and is still operating.
What it led to
- the McIntosh plant (US, 1991)
- large-scale storage without reservoirs
- support for wind power