Can large-scale advanced-adiabatic compressed air energy storage be justified economically in an age of sustainable energy?

Pickard, William F.; Hansing, Nicholas J.; Shen, Amy Q.

doi:10.1063/1.3139449

Cited by 63 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…However, although there is significant research into near-isothermal compression for CAES (by companies like Lightsail and SustainX), it is not yet commercially available and any currently available compression that approaches reversible isothermal compression is too slow for industrial use [27,28] due to the impractically small temperature differences required. Therefore most commonly cited A-CAES designs opt for a series of adiabatic or polytropic compressions, after each of which the air is cooled back to the ambient temperature in order to reduce the both the temperature and volume of the air.…”

Section: Compression and Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bullough et al estimates an efficiency greater than 70% [25], Grazzini and Milazzo model a 16,500 MJ ($4.6 MW h) system and suggest an efficiency of 72% [26], while Pickard et al suggest a practical efficiency greater than 50% for a bulk A-CAES facility (1GWd) may be hard to achieve [27]. This discrepancy is not easily explained, but seems at least in part to come from Pickard et al modelling the cooling stages as isochoric rather than isobaric.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage with packed bed thermal energy storage

et al. 2015

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h i g h l i g h t sThe paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of A-CAES using packed bed regenerators. The packed beds are used to store the compression heat. A numerical model is developed, validated and used to simulate system operation. The simulated efficiencies are between 70.5% and 71.1% for continuous operation. Heat build-up in the beds reduces continuous cycle efficiency slightly. a b s t r a c tThe majority of articles on Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) so far have focussed on the use of indirect-contact heat exchangers and a thermal fluid in which to store the compression heat. While packed beds have been suggested, a detailed analysis of A-CAES with packed beds is lacking in the available literature. This paper presents such an analysis. We develop a numerical model of an A-CAES system with packed beds and validate it against analytical solutions. Our results suggest that an efficiency in excess of 70% should be achievable, which is higher than many of the previous estimates for A-CAES systems using indirect-contact heat exchangers. We carry out an exergy analysis for a single charge-storage-discharge cycle to see where the main losses are likely to transpire and we find that the main losses occur in the compressors and expanders (accounting for nearly 20% of the work input) rather than in the packed beds. The system is then simulated for continuous cycling and it is found that the build-up of leftover heat from previous cycles in the packed beds results in higher steady state temperature profiles of the packed beds. This leads to a small reduction (<0.5%) in efficiency for continuous operation.

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Section: Compression and Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage with packed bed thermal energy storage

et al. 2015

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“…To date, compressed air energy storage (CAES) is the least expensive large-scale option, but finding appropriate porous media underground reservoirs is a challenge and a conventional CAES plant requires approximately 3.5 MJ/kWh of additional natural gas to heat the compressed air when the latter is released to run a gas turbine (Mason et al, 2008). Advanced adiabatic CAES (AA-CAES) might become viable in the future, with an anticipated 50% cycle efficiency (Pickard et al, 2009); flexible fabric structures anchored to the seabed are also being investigated for their potential to be a clean, economicallyattractive means of energy storage (Pimm and Garvey, 2009). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The energy return on energy investment (EROI) of photovoltaics: Methodology and comparisons with fossil fuel life cycles

2012

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Abstract:A high energy return on energy investment (EROI) of an energy production process is crucial to its long-term viability. The EROI of conventional thermal electricity from fossil fuels has been viewed as being much higher than those of renewable energy life-cycles, and specifically of photovoltaics (PVs). We show that this is largely a misconception fostered by the use of outdated data and, often, a lack of consistency among calculation methods. We hereby present a thorough review of the methodology, discuss methodological variations and present updated EROI values for a range of modern PV systems, in comparison to conventional fossil-fuel based electricity life-cycles.

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“…Current energy storage systems for wind turbines are: (1) pumped-hydroelectric storage (PHS), 1,2 (2) batteries, 1,2 and (3) compressed-air energy storage (CAES). [1][2][3][4] However, all three of these concepts suffer from shortcomings since: (1) off-shore turbines generally do not have access to elevated reservoirs needed for PHS, (2) batteries are impractically expensive for large-off-shore systems, and (3) conventional CAES requires use with natural gas turbines and extremely large volume caverns, which are problematic for off-shore turbines. To overcome these barriers, a new CAES concept for wind energy is proposed that is predicted to be both highly efficient and economical while avoiding need for gas turbines or extreme volume reservoirs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spray-cooling concept for wind-based compressed air energy storage

Qin

Loth

et al. 2014

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy

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Wind turbine output energy varies over time with local wind speed and is typically inconsistent with grid power demand. Without energy storage, the resulting difference between rated (peak) power and average power output leads to oversizing of electrical generator and transmission lines. This conventional arrangement can be avoided if wind turbines can be coupled with energy storage to eliminate the output variations and instead produce their average power on a continuous basis. This would allow a smaller, lower-cost, constant-speed generator and a reduced capacity transmission system sized only for average power output. To accomplish this goal, this study discusses a concept for a storage system for a 5 MW off-shore wind turbine, which integrates a spray-based compressed air energy storage with a 35 MPa accumulator. The compressor employs a liquid piston for air sealing and employs water spray to augment heat transfer for high-efficiency. The overall compression is proposed in three stages with pressure ratios of 10:1, 7:1, and 5:1, all operated at 1 Hz to maintain moderate liquid surface acceleration. Based on a simple and fundamental description of the system, compression efficiency was found to be strongly dependent on droplet surface area, which can be achieved through either high mass loading or small drop sizes. The simulations also show that direct injection spray can increase overall three-stage compression efficiency to as high as 89%, substantially better than the 27% associated with a conventional adiabatic compression at the same pressure ratio. In addition, this study introduces a key performance parameter, termed the Levelization Factor, which can be used to quantify the impact of storage on wind energy systems. However, experiments and simulations based on 3-D geometries with design details are needed to determine the potential of this concept. V C 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

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Can large-scale advanced-adiabatic compressed air energy storage be justified economically in an age of sustainable energy?

Cited by 63 publications

References 32 publications

Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage with packed bed thermal energy storage

Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage with packed bed thermal energy storage

The energy return on energy investment (EROI) of photovoltaics: Methodology and comparisons with fossil fuel life cycles

Spray-cooling concept for wind-based compressed air energy storage

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