History[edit]

Transmission[edit]
It has been suggested that this section be split into an article
titled History of pneumatic power. (Discuss) (November 2015)
City-wide compressed air energy systems have been built since 1870.[15] Cities such as Paris,
France; Birmingham, England; Dresden, Rixdorf and Offenbach, Germany and Buenos Aires,
Argentina installed such systems. Victor Popp constructed the first systems to power clocks by
sending a pulse of air every minute to change their pointer arms. They quickly evolved to deliver
power to homes and industry.[16] As of 1896, the Paris system had 2.2 MW of generation distributed
at 550 kPa in 50 km of air pipes for motors in light and heavy industry. Usage was measured by
meters.[15] The systems were the main source of house-delivered energy in those days and also
powered the machines of dentists, seamstresses, printing facilities and bakeries.

Storage[edit]

1978 The first utility-scale compressed air energy storage project was the 290 megawatt
Huntorf plant in Germany using a salt dome.

1991 A 110 megawatt plant with a capacity of 26 hours was built in McIntosh, Alabama (1991).
The Alabama facility's $65 million cost works out to $590 per kW of generation capacity and
about $23 per kW-hr of storage capacity, using a 19 million cubic foot solution mined salt cavern
to store air at up to 1100 psi. Although the compression phase is approximately 82% efficient,
the expansion phase requires combustion of natural gas at one third the rate of a gas turbine
producing the same amount of electricity.[17][18][19]

November 2009 The US Department of Energy awards $24.9 million in matching funds for
phase one of a 300 MW, $356 million Pacific Gas and Electric CAES installation utilizing a saline
porous rock formation being developed near Bakersfield in Kern County, California. Goals of the
project are to build and validate an advanced design.[20]

December, 2010 The US Department of Energy provides $29.4 million in funding to conduct
preliminary work on a 150 MW salt-based CAES project being developed by Iberdrola USA in
Watkins Glen, New York. The goal is to incorporate smart grid technology to balance
renewable intermittent energy sources.[20][21]

December, 2012 General Compression completes construction of a 2 MW near-isothermal

CAES project in Gaines, TX; the world's third CAES project. The project uses no fuel.[22]

2013 (projected) The first adiabatic CAES project, a 200 megawatt facility called ADELE, is
planned for construction in Germany. This project has been DELAYED for undisclosed reasons
until at least 2016.[23]

2016 (projected) Apex has planned a CAES plant for Anderson County, Texas to go online in
2016.[24] This project has been DELAYED and will not go into operation until July 2017[25]

2017 (projected) - Storelectric Ltd is planning to build a 40 MW 100% renewable energy pilot
plant in Cheshire, UK, with 800 MWh storage capacity. "This would be 20 times larger than any
100% renewable energy CAES built so far, representing a step-change in the storage industry."
according to their website.[26]