Can alternating current be stored

Answer 1

Your question should read, "Can electrical energy be stored?", as 'power' is simply the rate of utilising energy. The answer is, in a sense, yes. Hydroelectric generation systems 'store' huge amounts of energy in reservoirs, which can then be converted into electrical energy upon demand. Some hydroelectric plants will actually pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir during periods of low demand so that the upper reservoir is refilled, ready to provide more energy on demand. Direct storage of very small amounts of energy can be achieved with capacitors, but the amount of energy stored is very low and not of much use other than for specific, low-energy, applications -certainly not enough for practical purposes. Finally, we could argue that batteries store electrical energy although, like hydroelectric dams, the energy is provided by the work done (in this case, by chemical reaction) by the battery rather than by 'storage'.

Answer 2

Using a 12 volt battery, 12 volts can be stored. If you have TWO 12 volt batteries in series, you can store 24 volts. It depends on how much storage you have.

I suspect you're referring to storing power (voltage * current), not necessarily voltage. Power can be stored as electrical power in batteries and capacitors, or as kinetic power (such as in a flywheel or generator rotor), and even as potential energy (such as in a water tower), or chemical energy (like you body stores energy as fat, or creating hydrogen from water using electrolysis). You can store as much as you have physical material (there's only so much water to put in a water tower) and money to build the necessary equipment. Different methods will store more energy than others, but will have more losses associated with that storage, or may have bleedoff problems where the power stored will decay at an accelerated rate (so many percent per hour, or day).

Answer 3

No, alternating current (AC) cannot be stored directly. AC needs to be converted to direct current (DC) before it can be stored in batteries or capacitors. Devices such as inverters are used to convert AC to DC for storage.

Answer 4

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