2013-04-04

ARES Advanced Rail Energy Storage

Train-Based Energy Storage: Making Renewable Energy Reliable With Gravity

Jim Kelly, CEO of Advanced Rail Energy Services in California, is looking forward to testing out a means of storing electricity that is efficient, innovative and unexpected –– by moving trains.

Energy Storage - Grid Scale Energy Storage - Ares North America

During periods where excess energy is available on the grid, ARES shuttle-trains draw electricity from the grid, which powers their individual axle-drive motors, as they transport a continuous flow of masses uphill against the force of gravity to an upper storage yard.  When the grid requires energy to meet periods of high demand, this process is reversed.  The shuttle-trains provide a continuous flow of masses returning to the lower storage yard with their motors operating as generators, converting the potential energy of the masses elevation back into electricity in a highly efficient process.