When you compress air, it heats up and expands -- thus making the pressure go up faster than one might expect. So, when storing it you lose a lot of energy as heat.
When you let it uncompress, it cools -- losing a lot of energy again.
Point is, you lose quite a bit of energy going both ways.
A good solution might be to combine wind and pumped hydro: have the wind turbine pump water to a higher elevation when extra wind is available.
When you let it uncompress, it cools -- losing a lot of energy again.
Point is, you lose quite a bit of energy going both ways.
A good solution might be to combine wind and pumped hydro: have the wind turbine pump water to a higher elevation when extra wind is available.