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| ARES North America - The Power of Gravity |
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| ARES technology |
One of the challenges for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar is the episodic nature of the power generation when the wind stops blowing and the sun sets or there is cloud cover. There are several options for energy storage that include batteries, compressed gas, flywheel, water pumping up a gradient, and conversion to hydrogen through electrolysis.
ARES technology is working on a rail system that converts the potential energy of a change in height elevation into electricity. Electrical energy from wind or solar is used to send rail weighted cars up a steep gradient. When the cars are released back down the gradient the change from potential to kinetic energy is captured by regenerative braking on the cars with an efficiency of around 75%. ARES currently has a pilot project in Bakersfield California and hopes to set up similar projects around the world where the topography is favorable.
Silent video on ARES technology as clouds move over a solar array - 2 min.
News report on the process - 3 min.
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