Augwind’s AirBattery Hydraulic Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) technology combines pumped hydroelectric principles with compressed air storage, and is designed specifically for grid-scale storage for up to months at a time.
The solution aims to mitigate the intermittency of renewables and their impact on grid reliability and electricity markets.
How the AirBattery system works
The system will use a mined salt cavern, which will serve as a high-capacity compressed-air reservoir.
According to Augwind, excess energy is used to compress air to pressures from 50 bar all the way to above 200 bar, depending on the demand and geomorphic structure of the cavern, and feed the pressurised air into vast underground caverns.
A typical cavern will have the potential to store enough compressed air to generate 3-8GWh of electricity.
The energy is recovered from the system by simply returning the high-pressure air back through the water-filled chambers, streaming the water to spin a turbine and generate electricity.
Augwind has already reached a 47% AC-to-AC round-trip efficiency at its AirBattery demonstration facility in Israel, validating that commercial installations will exceed 60%.
Or Yogev, founder and CEO of Augwind, commented in a statement: “With the AirBattery, we’re introducing a storage solution that finally matches the scale and rhythm of renewable energy. Germany’s redundant salt caverns, industrial leadership, and climate ambition make it the perfect launchpad for our first commercial deployment. Our goal is to become Europe’s preferred partner for multiweek storage solutions. With this German launch, we are proving that long-term energy storage to balance the grid is not only technically feasible, but it’s economically sound.”
Augwind is looking to commission the project by 2028 and is working with local cavern owners, utilities, energy traders and industrial off takers to secure permitting and finalise the system design.
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Focus on sustainability
According to Augwind, the system is more sustainable as it doesn’t rely on critical minerals used to make batteries, including Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, or Manganese.
Also, the AirBattery relies on a minimal volume of water which is maintained in a closed system.
In addition, the AirBattery system can be operated by using locally produced renewable excess electricity. By absorbing surplus wind and solar energy, it reduces exposure to the price volatility of international commodity markets (e.g. oil, gas, coal and nuclear), helping to stabilise electricity costs for consumers and industry alike.