Compressed air energy storage underground artificial cavern

Could a cavern be China's first underground energy storage project?

A state-led consortium is developing a 300 MW/1200 MWh compressed air energy storage (CAES) project in Xinyang, Henan province, featuring an entirely artificial underground cavern—China’s first of its kind.

Can compressed air energy storage be used in artificial caverns?

Compressed air energy storage in artificial caverns can mitigate the dependence on salt cavern and waste mines, as well as realize the rapid consumption of new energy and the “peak-cutting and valley-filling” of the power grid. At the same time, the safety and stability of the surrounding rock of gas storage has attracted extensive attention.

How do underground cavern reservoirs respond to charge/discharge cycles?

In the present work, the thermodynamic response of underground cavern reservoirs to charge/discharge cycles of compressed air energy storage (CAES) plants was studied. During a CAES plant operation, the cyclical air injection and withdrawal produce temperature and pressure fluctuations within the storage cavern.

What is compressed air energy storage (CAES)?

1. Introduction Compressed air energy storage (CAES) is a promising venue to supply peaking power to electric utilities. A CAES plant provides the advantage of compressing air during off peak hours to a relatively inexpensive underground reservoir, at the low cost of excess base-load electrical power.

Can a lined rock cavern be used for air storage?

Thus, an alternative method, CAES in lined rock caverns, is studied in the present paper and was found to have a better applicability. The earliest CAES using a lined rock cavern appeared in Japan in 1990. The researchers (Ishihata 1997) conducted an in situ air storage test in a coal mine at a depth of 450 m in Kamimasagawa City.

What are the solutions for temperature and pressure variations in storage caverns?

The solutions for the temperature and pressure variations within the storage cavern were developed for typical conditions of constant air mass flow rates during both, the charge and discharge stages. It is also assumed that the air is cooled to a certain temperature prior to storage.