IT has become an accepted notion that if a substantial portion of our electricity supply is to be sourced from renewable energy , some large-scale forms of energy storage are going to be necessary to compensate for the variable generation of the two easiest and most economical forms of RE to deploy — solar and wind.
The fact that the concept has definitely been proven separates compressed air energy storage from more fanciful ideas, but just like many tech solutions hailed as potential 'game-changers' — small nuclear reactors, blockchain, and artificial intelligence readily come to mind — there are some questions as to whether the innovation masks shortcomings in practicality and efficiency.First, there is the unimpressive round-trip efficiency of compressed air systems.