The big picture that Paul needs to address is the ability to store wind energy. The responsibility for this ultimately lies with the company that is generating the power; if it is under contract to provide a specific number of kWh according to grid demand, then it needs to find technologies to assure that it meets that obligation.

But if the goal is to have a smart grid that can deliver the right amount of electricity wherever and whenever it’s needed without maintaining all kinds of excess capacity, then all parties – the generator, the utility and the transmission grid – need to take responsibility for being able to store energy at appropriate times and places. Historically, options for energy storage at this scale have been limited. Large batteries and motor/generator-driven flywheels are current solutions. But electrochemical batteries have limitations in capacity, and they degrade over time. As an immediate solution, this may be Paul’s best choice, but other technologies are quickly emerging and, in some cases, are already economically feasible as a storage medium to smooth out the bumps and valleys associated with any kind of renewable energy.

One promising technology is compressed air energy storage (CAES), in which wind turbines are used to compress air into large underground caverns or, eventually, man-made storage tanks. When energy is needed, the compressed air can be drawn through air-powered electrical generators. The most difficult aspect is finding natural storage facilities and obtaining rights-of-way to use them.

Another promising technology is electric double-layer capacitors, or ultracapacitors. Like ordinary electrolytic capacitors, they can be charged quickly, and they operate without any of the degradation that compromises electrochemical batteries. However, ultracapacitors offer much higher power density than batteries.

Ultracapacitors are already being used in small applications, and within a few years larger versions should become viable for such uses as transportation and support of the electrical grid.

That may not help Paul today; he may need to work with his wind power suppliers in the short term on more conventional storage systems to smooth out the intermittent nature of wind power. But within a few years, I’m confident there will be storage systems available that successfully decouple power generation from demand for electricity without the drawbacks of today’s solutions.

Michael Stevens is Chief Technical Officer of Pearlwind LLC, a Cleveland-based enterprise that designs, engineers and installs commercial wind, solar and induction lighting solutions for industry. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Stevens has devoted his career to the promotion and development of renewable energy resources. He has participated in many of the largest solar projects built in the U.S. over the past ten years, including first installations of the PowerLight (now SunPower) “SunTracker” single-axis tracker. He helped create, and has taught, a 40-hour North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) basic curriculum for solar installers, and a 24-hour curriculum for advanced solar installers and engineers focused on creating "permit-ready" plan sets for solar PV systems.