As we've many times documented, and as seen for just two examples in our reports of:
West Virginia Coal Association | Exxon 1982 CoalTL Uses WVU CoalTL Hydrogen Donor Solvent | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,345,989 - Catalytic Hydrogen-donor Liquefaction Process; 1982; Exxon Research and Engineering Company; Coal ... is converted into ... liquid hydrocarbons by contacting the feed material with a hydrogen-donor solvent ... and molecular hydrogen"; and
West Virginia Coal Association | August 2011, CO2-to-Gasoline US Patent Awarded | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,989,507 - Production of Fuel Materials Utilizing Waste Carbon Dioxide; 2011; Siemens AG; The present invention is directed to a method for utilizing CO2 waste comprising recovering carbon dioxide (and) producing hydrogen using a renewable energy resource and producing a hydrocarbon material utilizing the produced hydrogen and the recovered carbon dioxide";.
there exist some truly remarkable technologies for converting our abundant Coal and our, some say too abundant, Carbon Dioxide into various hydrocarbons that can serve as direct replacements for anything we now derive from increasingly dear, in terms of US dollars and American lives, OPEC petroleum.
Although many variations of such technologies exist, as we have thoroughly documented over the long course of our reportage, the types represented by the above "United States Patent 4,345,989" and "United States Patent 7,989,507", wherein elemental, "molecular hydrogen" is utilized to effect the hydrogenation of the Coal and the Carbon Dioxide, have seemed to us to be the most efficient, in terms especially of the types of hydrocarbons produced, which is an issue, since downstream refining and processing of the raw products are components of the total cost of making both liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons from either Coal or Carbon Dioxide.
We've previously documented, in our report of:
Hydrogen from Wind Power | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,329,099 - Wind Turbine and Energy Distribution System; 2008; Abstract: A new design of vertical axis wind turbine is disclosed ... . A new energy distribution system is proposed that will capture abundant off-shore wind energy, store it aboard a generator/delivery ship in the form of Hydrogen gas, and deliver it to an existing shore based power plant to produce electricity using a conventional gas turbine. Alternatively, the Hydrogen can be used to produce methane from coal using known processes";
that wind energy can be utilized in an efficient way to, through the generation of electrical power, produce Hydrogen from water via the process of electrolysis.
The same is true of hydroelectric sources, as well, as we documented in:
West Virginia Coal Association | Germany & Pennsylvania Hydrogen from Hydropower | Research & Development; which concerns, in part: "United States Patent 6,864,596 - Hydrogen Production from Hydro Power; 2005; Voith Siemens Hydropower Generation GmbH and Incorporated, Germany and York, PA";
wherein a set of systems is disclosed which convert surplus electricity, generated by a constant environmental source of energy during off-peak hours, into stored energy, via water electrolysis, in the form of elemental, molecular Hydrogen.
And, wind energy does offer the same potentials as hydropower in the above-cited "United States Patent 6,864,596", since it is an, averaged over time, steady source of power that can and does generate excess electricity during periods of off-peak demand.
That is affirmed via:
Batteries on a Wind Farm Help Control Power Output - NYTimes.com; wherein it's related, from October, 2011, that: "Another wind farm opened on another windy ridge in West Virginia this week, 61 turbines stretched across 12 miles, generating up to 98 megawatts of electricity. But the novel element is a cluster of big steel boxes in the middle, the largest battery installation attached to the power grid in the continental United States. Power systems have always faced fluctuations in demand. As they incorporate more wind into the mix, they will have to cope with supply fluctuations as well."
The purpose of the batteries at the above Laurel Mountain wind farm is to absorb excess power when it's available, and, then, to feed it back into the grid when the wind dies down.
Interestingly, as a read of the full article will reveal, it is impractical to install enough batteries to store more than a few hours' worth of excess generating capacity.
And, we submit that good way of utilizing that excess electric generating capacity, above and beyond what the batteries can store for their purpose of smoothing out supply to the grid, would be the same as that disclosed, related to hydropower, in the above-cited "United States Patent 6,864,596 - Hydrogen Production from Hydro Power"; that is, to generate Hydrogen, which could be used, for instance, as suggested in "United States Patent 7,329,099", "to produce methane from coal".
That seems, in fact, the intent of the General Electric Company, as we see in excerpts from the initial link, with additional links and excerpts appended, to:
"United States Patent 7,199,482 - System and Method for Controlling Wind Farm Power Output
Date: April, 2007
Inventor: Paul Hopewell, Great Britain
Assignee: General Electric Company, New York
Abstract: A method for controlling variability in power output of a wind farm supplying power to a grid includes monitoring a power output level of the wind farm. The monitored power output level is compared to a target power output level. A command is issued to increase or decrease electrical power consumption by an electrolyzer system electrically coupled to the wind farm to maintain a net power output level by the wind farm based upon the comparison.
Claims: A method for controlling variability in power output of a wind farm supplying power to a grid, comprising: monitoring a power output level of the wind farm; comparing the monitored power output level of the wind farm to a target power output level; commanding an increase or decrease of electrical power consumption by an electrolyzer system electrically coupled to the wind farm to maintain a net power output level by the wind farm based upon the comparison; and monitoring a rate of change of power output by the wind farm and comparing the rate of change to a target rate of change of power output supplied to the grid.
The method ... comprising increasing electrical power consumption by the electrolyzer system in response to an increase in the power output level of the wind farm and decreasing electrical power consumption by the electrolyzer system in response to a decrease in the power output level of the wind farm to maintain the net power output level by the wind farm to the grid relatively constant.
The method ... wherein the target rate of change of power output supplied to the grid is based on allowable power ramp rates of one or more auxiliary power sources supplying power to the grid (and) wherein the electrolyzer system power consumption is commanded based upon the difference between total power output of the wind farm and a target power output supplied to the grid (and) further comprising storing hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer system in response to a command to increase power consumption by the electrolyzer system.
A method for controlling variability in power output of a renewable energy source supplying power to a grid, comprising: monitoring a power output level of the renewable energy source and monitoring a rate of change of power output of the renewable energy source; comparing the monitored power output level of the renewable energy source to a target power output level; and commanding an increase or decrease of electrical power consumption by an electrolyzer system electrically coupled to the renewable energy source to maintain a net power output level by the renewable energy source based upon the comparison.
The method ... wherein the renewable energy source comprises a wind turbine.
The method ... further comprising storing hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer system in response to a command to increase power consumption by the electrolyzer system (and) further comprising recycling the stored hydrogen to generate electrical power to augment electrical power produced by the renewable energy source.
The electrolyzer system ... advantageously serves two purposes. First, it serves to produce hydrogen from a renewable energy resource (i.e.--wind in this case). Hydrogen thus produced by wind energy is directed to a hydrogen storage unit. The stored hydrogen may be subsequently sold, for example as vehicle fuel, or alternately, may be utilized to drive a gas turbine to augment power output of the wind farm."
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The excess, "stored hydrogen may be subsequently sold", we submit, to someone operating a process similar to that seen in our report of:
US Navy 2008 CO2 to Synfuel | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent 7,420,004 - Producing Synthetic Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels; 2008; The USA, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy; Abstract: A process for producing synthetic hydrocarbons that reacts carbon dioxide, obtained from seawater or air, and hydrogen obtained from water, with a catalyst in a chemical process such as reverse water gas shift combined with Fischer Tropsch synthesis. The hydrogen is produced by ... (a) source that is fossil fuel-free, such as wind or wave energy. The process can be either land based or sea based";
wherein it could be used to convert Carbon Dioxide into "synthetic hydrocarbons". And, since there is, presumably, an appreciable amount of wind, or "air streams", in the area where the process of our subject, "United States Patent 7,199,482 - System and Method for Controlling Wind Farm Power Output", would be operating, we could, as seen in:
West Virginia Coal Association | US Navy and Columbia University Recycle Atmospheric CO2 | Research & Development; which contains information concerning: "United States Patent 7,833,328 - Scrubber for Capturing Carbon Dioxide from Air; 2010; Columbia University; Abstract: The present invention is directed to methods for carbon dioxide from air, which comprises exposing solvent covered surfaces to air streams where the airflow is kept laminar, or close to the laminar regime. The invention also provides for an apparatus, which is a laminar scrubber, comprising solvent covered surfaces situated such that they can be exposed to air streams such that the airflow is kept laminar. A scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from open air";
conveniently install an atmospheric Carbon Dioxide extraction and collection device on the same site.
And, just to assuage any doubters, as seen in:
Wind Powering America: West Virginia 50-Meter Wind Map; "The U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) published a wind resource map for the state of West Virginia. This map indicates that West Virginia has wind resources ... along ... ridge crests that are estimated to have outstanding-to-superb resource (potential)"; and, in:
Wind Powering America: Pennsylvania 50-Meter Wind Map; "The U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) published a wind resource map for the state of Pennsylvania. This map indicates that Pennsylvania has ... good-to-excellent wind resource areas ... on ridge crests in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania, located ... southeast of Pittsburgh";
according to our own USDOE, we do have, in the very heart of US Coal Country, what would seem to be plenty of wind resources to make all of this work.
Too darned bad we're not giving it a shot; or, at least talking openly and publicly about it all.