Civil construction costs of air energy storage projects

What is compressed air energy storage (CAES)?

Among the different ES technologies, compressed air energy storage (CAES) can store tens to hundreds of MW of power capacity for long-term applications and utility-scale. The increasing need for large-scale ES has led to the rising interest and development of CAES projects.

How much does compressed air storage cost?

For long-term dispatch, however, compressed air storage advances to first place at €235/MWh, followed by hydrogen storage in the cavern at €280/MWh and PH at €326/MWh. The breakdown of costs for the various components is shown in Figure 10.

When did compressed air energy storage start?

The first utility-scale compressed air energy storage (CAES) system, with a capacity of 280 MW, was established in 1978 at Huntorf in Germany. To date, one more large system of this type (McIntosh with a capacity of 110 MW in the USA in 1991) and facilities of an experimental nature have been commissioned .

Does underground storage of compressed air and hydrogen have potential?

Estimates of the potential and of the costs of underground storage of compressed air and hydrogen were undertaken by KBB Underground Technologies GmbH, Hanover, Germany. In this paper, technologies are analysed that exhibit potential for mechanical and chemical energy storage on a grid scale.

What are the three energy storage technologies?

This paper addresses three energy storage technologies: PH, compressed air storage (CAES) and hydrogen storage (Figure 1). These technologies are among the most important grid-scale storage options being intensively discussed today.

Is hydrogen storage cost-competitive?

In the deployment scenarios of STS and MTS, PH is the most cost-effective storage technology, closely followed by compressed air storage. In these deployment scenarios, hydrogen storage is not cost-competitive. Depending on storage path, its LECs are greater than the costs for PH and compressed air storage by a factor of 2–6.