A startup aiming to implement an innovative air energy storage system underwater – here’s why

The startup is ready to take the plunge by installing an underwater airborne energy storage system. The result could be reliable, clean energy at significantly reduced costs.

As Curious Engineering details, BaroMar is building a four-megawatt-hour project in Cyprus, exploring ways to store renewable, non-polluting energy for large-scale use.

Dirty fuels are responsible for most pollution, causing global temperatures to rise and putting a dangerous burden on our weather. Scientists overwhelmingly agree that switching to clean energy sources like solar and wind power will help give our planet – and its inhabitants – a healthier future.

However, to meet energy demand, storage solutions are necessary. While lithium-ion batteries keep our greener electric vehicles running smoothly, they are expensive and lose capacity over time, as Curious Engineering noted.

BaroMar believes its compressed air energy storage (CAES) system is the key to cost-effective bulk energy storage.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the concept has been used in mechanical processes since 1870, when Argentina moved clock arms using air pulses. The first utility-scale CAES project involving heat transfer took place in Germany in 1978.

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However, as BaroMar notes on its official website, geological and regulatory constraints have limited the use of this type of energy storage systems.

The Israeli company explains in the video that the “negligible relative pressure between the compressed air and the surrounding water” helps keep construction costs low. Tanks can be installed at depths of up to 700 meters (approximately 2,300 feet).

When people need more clean energy, compressed air is released through a pipe, pushed through a heat recovery system, to a turboexpander, and then to a generator that powers the grid. At the same time, water can leak back into the tank.

The number of cycles is “unlimited,” and the company says installation costs are “as little as $80 per kilowatt hour.” The design also reduces the need for underwater maintenance to almost zero, suggesting that environmental disruption will be minimal.

According to Curious Engineering, the next steps from May will likely involve a lot of surveying, testing and permitting.

If fully realized, BaroMar’s CAES system could be the next promising, cost-effective energy storage solution that takes advantage of abundant natural resources, joining the ranks of crushed rock and pebbles.

On its website, the startup says its technology is about $31 cheaper per megawatt hour than competing systems, at $100 per megawatt hour.

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