Cost effective seasonal storage of wind energy

Seasonal variation of the wind electric potential on the Great Plains could be a significant obstacle to the large scale utilization of wind generated electricity. Wind power densities usually are greatest during the spring, and decrease by at least 30 percent relative to the annual average in many areas during the summer months, when demand is highest. This problem can be overcome by using an oversized wind farm and a compressed air energy storage system (a baseload wind energy system). A minimum volume storage reservoir is needed to transform intermittent wind energy to baseload power, while a larger reservoir can be used to store excess power produced during the spring for either peak power or baseload output during the summer. The yearly average cost of energy increases by about 3 percent for the largest storage reservoir, indicating the seasonal storage of wind energy is economically as well as technically feasible.