Welcome to the Powair website.
The Powair project was supported under the EU’s 7th framework programme theme of ENERGY & its overall aim is to create a low cost modular and environmentally sustainable electrical energy storage system.
There are major challenges ahead if wholesale centralised and decentralised renewable power generation is to be implemented. While wind generation is not viable at times of low (and in fact very high) wind speed, solar generation is only useful during daylight hours. These periods of intermittency restrict the practicality of integrating renewable generation onto transmission and distribution grids, and it is widely accepted that large-scale energy storage installations are required to off-set periods of restricted generation.
For large scale energy storage systems of MW-scale, there are only a few technologies available. These include pumped accumulation systems and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). These technologies however, have some severe disadvantages as they require particular geographical features; large water reservoirs or salt caverns. Further deployment of these energy storage systems is therefore difficult. Conventional battery systems such as lead-acid batteries, nickel-cadmium and lithium-ion are also less attractive for large scale energy storage systems because of poor performance, often high costs per kWh, and system complexity.
An executive summary of the project is available to download here.
