Development direction of compressed air energy storage

Can compressed air energy storage detach power generation from consumption?

To address the challenge, one of the options is to detach the power generation from consumption via energy storage. The intention of this paper is to give an overview of the current technology developments in compressed air energy storage (CAES) and the future direction of the technology development in this area.

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.

What is compressed air energy storage (CAES)?

Alongside Pumped Hydroelectric Storage (PHS), Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is one of the commercialized EES technologies in large-scale available. Furthermore, the new advances in adiabatic CAES integrated with renewable energy power generation can provide a promising approach to achieving low-carbon targets.

How do compressed air energy storage systems work?

In compressed air energy storage systems, electricity runs a compressor on land to produce compressed air. During this process, waste heat is captured and can be used to increase the round-trip efficiency from about 60 percent to as high as 80 percent. The compressed air is then pressurized to match the pressure at the ocean floor where the balloons are located.

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.

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.