The development of compressed air energy storage

What is compressed air energy storage?

Compressed air energy storage is derived from gas turbine technology, and the concept of using compressed air to store electric energy dates back to the 1940s . The principle of a traditional CAES plant is described as follows (Fig. 1 a).

Why does compressed air storage system need to be improved?

However, due to the characteristics of compressed air storage system, the heating and cooling energy can not be constantly produced. So the system needs to be improved to meet the continuous heating / cooling requirements of users.

How can compressed air energy storage improve the stability of China's power grid?

The intermittent nature of renewable energy poses challenges to the stability of the existing power grid. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) that stores energy in the form of high-pressure air has the potential to deal with the unstable supply of renewable energy at large scale in China.

Is there a future for compressed air storage?

There are two large scale compressed air storage plants are in operation and their success encourages the technology development. A number of pilot projects in building new generation of CAES are on-going. All the projects have demonstrated the difficulties in financial investment.

What are the different types of compressed air energy storage (CAES)?

Figure 1. Various options for compressed air energy storage (CAES). PA-CAES: Porous Aquifer-CAES, DR -CAES: Depleted Reservoir CAES, CW-CAES: Cased Wellbore-CAES. Note: this figure is not scaled. Figure 2. A sealed mine adit as a potential pressure vessel. Note - CA: compressed air, RC: reinforced

Can compressed air energy storage improve the profitability of existing power plants?

Linden Svd, Patel M. New compressed air energy storage concept improves the profitability of existing simple cycle, combined cycle, wind energy, and landfill gas power plants. In: Proceedings of ASME Turbo Expo 2004: Power for Land, Sea, and Air; 2004 Jun 14–17; Vienna, Austria. ASME; 2004. p. 103–10. F. He, Y. Xu, X. Zhang, C. Liu, H. Chen