Augwind Energy, a publicly traded company and the game changer in air-based energy technologies, announced that it plans to develop its maiden commercial AirBattery facility in Germany. It will be an industrial-operational-scale installation of the first of its kind AirBattery Hydraulic Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) designed by Augwind that can achieve a grid-scale storage capacity of several months, a paradigm-changing power infrastructure solution globally targeting the 2050 energy transition.
The prevalence of long durations of low solar and wind generation in areas like Germany and other central European countries is disastrous to grid stability with such terms and conditions being referred to as Dunkelflautes. The AirBattery product of Augwind can deliver resilient buffer with up to months of backup to enable utilities, grid operator and traders to address renewables intermittency and stabilize electricity markets.
The revolutionary AirBattery system created by Augwind is a clever mix of two established technologies. The key idea of the system is to combine the pumped hydroelectric concept with the use of compressed air storage to circulate water between underground chambers and compress or decompress air in huge quantities.
Surplus energy may be used to compress air to pressures of 50 bar up to over 200 bar depending on demand and geomorphic construction of the cavern, and then inject the pressurized air into huge underground caverns that are as large as the Empire State Building. The surplus renewable energy is efficiently stored until the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow because a typical cavern can store a sufficient amount of compressed air and, thus, enable up to 3-8 GWh of electricity.
The energy utilized in the process is retrieved by merely pumping the high-pressure air back through the chambers that are filled with water and allowed to stream water through a turbine, allowing the production of electricity. Augwind has already demonstrated a 47% AC-to-AC round-trip at its AirBattery demonstration plant in Israel, proving that commercial plants will deliver over 60%.
The first commercial-scale The AirBattery factory will be located in Germany and use a salt cavern mined to suit such long-duration energy storage. The cavern will allow for cost-effective, high-capacity energy storage with compressed air, making it able to scale at a much lower cost as compared to the existing stationary form of energy storage and, within a short period, be able to store energy over several months, which is a critical feature as Europe quickly races to exceed a 50% level of transferring to renewable energy.
“This is more than a project; it’s a milestone for achieving net zero. With the AirBattery, we’re introducing a storage solution that finally matches the scale and rhythm of renewable energy. Germany’s redundant salt caverns, industrial leadership, and climate ambition make it the perfect launchpad for our first commercial deployment. Our goal is to become Europe’s preferred partner for multiweek storage solutions. With this German launch, we are proving that long-term energy storage to balance the grid is not only technically feasible, but it’s economically sound.”
– Yogev, founder and CEO of Augwind.
Augwind is currently collaborating to various degrees with local cavern owners, utilities, energy traders and industrial offtakers to obtain permitting and finalize system design, with the bottom target commissioning window being 2027–2028. With the help of the project, the techno-economic viability of Hydraulic CAES of Augwind will not only be demonstrated but will also pave the way towards wider implementation in Europe by 2030.
What makes AirBattery energy storage the solution of the future?
Augwind’s innovative AirBattery system is, in comparison to the other methods of long-term energy storage like the lithium-ion battery or hydro storage, a ridiculously cheap and sustainable kind of storage to provide anything up to months of usage.
The technology is not dependent on a critical mineral utilized in the production of batteries, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, or manganese, of which most of the supply chain is complex and monopolized by Chinese producers. AirBattery depends on the local supplies and labor and a small amount of water or water that is contained in an enclosed system.
Also, the AirBattery can be used when run off by locally generated renewable surplus power. This decreases the pressure on the electricity grid and, at the same time, enhances independence from the unstable international energy markets.
In what way does the AirBattery facilitate the energy transition?
Economic resilience: It is a way of reducing susceptibility to market price fluctuations in the global commodity markets (e.g. oil, gas, coal and nuclear) by accepting surplus town and solar energy and thus enabling more stability in the cost of electricity to both consumers and industry.
Geopolitical stability: It positively improves the security of supply, as it will diminish the need for energy imports. This role has acquired renewed vigor in the advent of Germany being exposed during the Russian gas crisis, which is an extreme cause of the German energy fuel. AirBattery can protect the energy system against such external shocks.
Solving Energy Goal Policy Triangle
The AirBattery solution is of significance to each of the three pillars of the so-called energy policy goal triangle, a tri-pronged approach to energy policy:
Security of supply: AirBattery allows weeks of energy storage, so it can supply backup power during weeks of low production of renewable energy (Dunkelflaute), a condition that will occur more often over the coming years as Germany decommissions coal and nuclear to boost the use of renewables.
Affordability The system will ease Multi-billion-euro re-dispatch expenditures where wind and solar power parks are compensated to close down when there is oversupply (curtailment), and air batteries will avoid using costly energy network extensions that are not necessary. As storage would happen at sites of large wind production (notably off- and onshore in Northern Germany), the grid would no longer have to ferry peaks to the south where coal and nuclear used to go. Eventually leading to a reduction in short-term price volatility.
Sustainability: AirBattery enables the more efficient combination of solar and wind energy to relieve the pressure on and promote the growth of power supply projects based on renewable energy sources. This will speed up the process and will save long-term energy expenses for industries and homes.
The most valuable benefits of the AirBattery system:
- Unlimited time option (only restricted by the volume of caverns)
- Very cheap cost per kWh during multiweek periods (10-15 USD per kWh).
- Low impact on the environment (land and water)
- Modular and scalable Topology (Several MWs per module, scaled up to the grid-scale)
- New mix of well-developed, recognized technologies (pumped hydro storage and CAES)
- Closer and more localized supply chain systems promise reliability and scalability in the medium to long term.
- The high redundancy is ensured by high modular structure and, consequently, high availability
- Empowers energy transition and reduces reliance of the international markets
- Cost and performance have been checked by Fichtner Group, a world-renowned German engineering company
