The Underground - Future of wind is so 1970's

7th in my series 'future energy fail' - Underground Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES)

FIRST CAES project was built in 1978 in Germany (new tech fail)
"...The first Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) plant in the United States actually went online in McIntosh, Alabama in 1991 where engineers created a geological pocket 900 feet long and up to 238 feet wide in a dome by pumping water into it to dissolve the rock salt. When the (briny) water was pumped back out, the salt resealed itself and they had an air-tight container."

NY Times - "When the wind is blowing, it is usually the cheapest peaking power available. However utilities need consistent always-on power from large, cheap coal and nuclear power plants that are the backbone of the electric grid. Wired reports that operators are looking at Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) using abandoned mines and sandstones of the Midwest to store compressed-air. This converts the intermittent motions of the air into a steady power source by using it to run air compressors to pump air into an underground cave where it's stored under pressure...

*Please read full at NY Times & Wired

White paper on CAES by xcelenergy and report by Samir Succar, here

Also see Mr. Succars review of latest here