ABSTRACT
With fossil fuels being depleted daily, renewable energy will continue to expand and become more of a primary source of energy production. At the current time, however, alternative energy generators need to be implemented with some form of storage to meet requirements during times of intermittence or surge power demand. Having stand-alone storage systems, however, can lead to separate issues altogether, so storage-integrated renewable energy harvesters are highly sought. The advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of all existing storage-integrated energy conversion technologies are reviewed in this chapter. An overall comparison between these technologies is made. Finally, a modi?ed storage-integrated technology, Storage integrAted Vortex hydrokinetic Energy converteR (SAVER), is proposed. SAVER mixes two existing energy harvesting and energy storage technologies. The ?rst is used for harvesting kinetic energy of vortex-induced vibrations of blu? bodies subjected to ?uid ?ows. The second is for storing energy by way of compressed air underwater and taking advantage of the hydrostatic pressure of the body of water. Both are economical, scalable, and environmentally friendly but have a low e?ciency. SAVER combines these two technologies so that their e?ciency increases, while preserving all these advantages.
