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Innovation Economy

Energy storage a key to wind, solar backup

By Scott Kirsner

 |  Globe Correspondent  

  October 30, 2011

A handful of companies around the region are designing new kinds of energy storage systems that could speed the spread of renewable power. Using large-scale battery banks or serpentine pipes filled with compressed air, they hope to capture the power produced by a wind turbine or solar panel, and release it to the electrical grid when it is most needed. Both approaches would have zero emissions, but neither is ready for prime time.

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