Cache Energy’s technology charges limestone based pellets inside this cylindrical container, and stores them until wind and solar power are scarce. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Electric utilities in Alaska and around the world are trying to cut their consumption of coal and gas, and switch to renewable power sources like wind and solar energy.
But there’s one big obstacle to completely phasing out fossil fuels: The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine — meaning that those sources alone can’t match demand 100% of the time.
Green energy skeptics cite that problem in arguing that utilities will continue depending on fossil fuels for decades.
But a new company that wants to use Alaska as a testing ground is part of a growing industry that could prove those skeptics wrong — and help the state transition to generating much more of its power from wind and solar amid an impending shortage of utilities’ primary fuel, natural gas.
Cache Energy , run by an immigrant from India’s coal country, publicly unveiled its technology last month at a dusty Anchorage industrial lot — with backing from multinational energy company Halliburton and plans to test the system in Kotzebue next year.