Wind-powered electricity generating system including wind energy storage

Abstract

The invention provides a wind-powered electricity generating system including a wind energy storage and recovery device. The wind energy storage and recovery device includes a wind-powered electricity generator (not necessarily a system of the invention), a heater operable with electricity from the generator, thermal fluid heated by the heater, a tank to store the heated fluid, and a stored heat energy extractor. In addition to the storage and recovery device, the system of the invention also includes blades mounted to rotate a shaft of a wind-powered generator in response to the wind to create electricity, and switch means actuable in response to the amount of electricity created by the generator for applying electricity to the heater. In another aspect the invention relates to a method for storing wind energy.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.