A CAES plant mainly consists of
Compressed air compressor train, motor-generator unit, gas
Energy Storage
Introduction:
With increasing power demand and
consumption, the need for storage system
which is cost efficient, reliable, feasible
and environmental friendly is of highest
urgency today. While pumped hydro
storage, batteries and other storage
technologies have some advantages, only
compressed air energy storage has the
potential of pumped hydro but with lower
cost and less geographic. Compressed air
energy storage works like a battery which
temporarily stores energy in the form of
compressed air which is driven
electrically. Air is pumped into large
storage tanks or any naturally occurring
underground formations aquifers. It has
gained special status recently as a means
of addressing the intermitting problems
associated with wind turbine electrical
generators. Air is compressed to about
100bar which 35% more pressure is than a
car tyre. During low-cost off-peak load
periods, a motor consumes power to
compress and store air in the underground
salt caverns. Later, during peak load
periods, the process is reversed; the
compressed air is returned to the surface;
this air is used to burn natural gas in the
combustion chambers. The resulting
combustion gas is then expanded in the 2-
stage gas turbine to spin the generator and
produce electricity.
Components of CAES:
turbine and underground compressed air
storage. The compressor-motor/ generator-
gas turbine are both located on the same
shaft and are coupled by a gear box.
Types of CAES:
The air can be stored in three ways
1. Diabatic
2. Adiabatically
3. Isothermal
The air may be pressurized diabatically by
pumping air into dry cavern.
Adiabatically, by storing heat generated
during compression which is usually
stored in heat accumulators.
Diabatic CAES:
Diabatic CAES do not use the heat emitted
during the compression process. Therefore,
in Diabatic Plants additional fuel is used
during expansion process to reheat the
compressed air. Diabatic CAES plant lose
heat energy from the compression. Heat
need to be regenerated before the
compressed air is expanded into the gas
turbine. In a diabatic process, 2/3 of the
turbine capacity is used in the compression
stage. The CAES turbine can generate 3
times the output for the same natural gas
input. This results in reduction of
consumption of specific gas and reduces
the associated CO2 emissions by around 40
to 60%. The power-to-power efficiency is
approximately 42% without the use of
recupertors, and 55% with the use of them.
Both the current plants use single-shaft
machines. energy into the compressed air. Therefore,
no gas combustion is necessary to heat the
compressed air and thus eliminating the
Power range Upto 100 MW
CO2 into the atmosphere. Adiabatic CAES
use a separate thermal energy storage
Energy range 100 MWh to 10 system like a recuperator to store heat
GWh
energy generated during compression
cycle. During expansion or generation
Discharge Time Upto 10 hours cycle, the stored heat energy is used to
reheat the air which is then expanded in a
Life 30 years sliding pressure air turbine. This enhances
the cycle efficiency because there is no
Reaction time Few minutes fuel used utilized to reheat the air resulting
in lower carbon dioxide emissions by the
Efficiency Approximately system. Using exhaust heat energy by
55% conventional gas turbine for heating the
high-pressure air before expansion in an
CAPEX Energy Approximately air bottoming cycle allows for CAES
50-150 $/kWh plants of different sizes based on cavern
storage volume and pressure.
CAPEX Power 400-1200 $/kW

Adiabatic plant
Specification of Diabatic CAES

Wind integrated CAES:

Adiabatic:
One of the central applications for
Efficiency of up to 70% can be achieved if
CAES is for the storage of wind energy
the heat due to compression is recovered
during abundance and generation onto
and reused to heat the compressed air
the grid during times of shortfalls in
during turbine operations because there is
wind output. Such wind balancing
no longer any need to burn extra natural
applications require not only large-
gas to warm up the decompressed air.
scale, long duration storage but a quick
When the air is compressed, most heat is
response times and siting availability.
captured in a heat storage facility instead
The capital cost of adding incremental
of being released into the surrounding.
amount of storage capacity can be
During the discharge cycle, the heat stored
much lower than for other comparable
in the heat storage facility releases its
storage technologies. CAES consumes
 significantly lesser fuel than
conventional gas turbine per unit of
energy delivered. Greenhouse effect
emissions from wind/CAES systems
can be quite low.
Storage:
Artificially constructed salt caverns in
deep salt formations are highly preferred.
High flexibility, low pressure losses within
the storage, no reaction with the oxygen in
the air are some desirable characteristics of
salt caverns. Natural aquifers are another
alternating option; however, it must be
taken care that rock and microorganisms
do not react with oxygen. Otherwise, it
could lead to oxygen depletion or the
blockage of the pores spaces in the
reservoir. Depleted natural gas fields are
also one of the futuristic options for
compressed air storage. Mixing of
Residual hydrocarbons with compressed
air is also one other challenges to be
addressed.
CAES is higher than that of the
conventional CAES.
Small Scale CAES
A small scale CAES facility can use over
ground cylinders with suitable dimensions
as a storage facility. Stored facility can
either be on site compression facility or
delivered as prefilled high-pressure air
cylinders. Turbines in these CAES need to
have high efficiency, fast response and low
maintenance.
LAES
A variant of CAES, using an electrical
machine to drive an air liquefier and the
resultant liquid air is stored in insulated
tank at atmospheric pressure. During
discharge, the liquid air is released and
pumped to high pressure, and then
vaporized and heated to ambient
temperature. This resultant high pressure
gaseous air is used to drive the turbine and
generate electricity.

Variants of CAES: Commercial CAES plants:

AA CAES: Huntorf plant:
When AA CAES is operated at the The world’s first utility-scale CAES plant
expansion mode by integrating a thermal commissioned by Brown Boveri was
Energy storage system, compressed air installed at Huntorf, Germany in 1978. It
energy is converted into electrical power was designed to meet the peak demand
output without a combustion process while maintaining a constant capacity
involved. The main benefit of AA CAES factor in the nuclear power industry.
is zero carbon emissions. Heat exchanger Thereafter, its functionality has been
is used to cool airflow through buffering against intermittence of wind
compressors and heat input airflow to eachenergy production in Northern Germany. It
turbine. The overall efficiency of AA has 2 salt caverns operating at a high
pressure between 4.8Mpa and 6.6Mpa. The
plant
Technology Self- Life Cycling Discharge Round trip
discharge time times efficiency efficiency runs
Large Small 20- 8000- 70-80% 42%, in a
CAES 40yrs 12000 54%,70%(based daily
on current cycle
plants)
Small Very 23+yrs Tested 75-90% -
CAES small 30000
LAES Small 20- - - 55-80%
40yrs
with 8 hours of compressed air charging Started in 1991, the 110 MW plant can
and 2 hours of expansion operation at a deliver continuous power output for up to
Technology Energy Power Specific Power Rated
density(Wh/L) density(W/L) Energy(Wh/kg) rating capacity

Large CAES 2-6 0.5-2 30-60 110 & 580 & 2860
290 MW MWh

Small CAES 2-6 0.5-2 140 0.003- 0.002-

3MW 0.01MWh

LAES 4 times than - 214 0.3- 2.5MWh

CAES 2.5MW

rated power of 290 MW. It has excellent
performance statics with 90% availability
and 99% starting reliability. The round-trip
efficiency of this plant is about 42%.
26 hours. It has a single salt dome cavern
to store compressed air in the range of
4.5Mpa to 7.4Mpa. The McIntosh facility
deploys a heat recuperator to reuse part of
heat energy from the exhaust of gas
turbines thereby reducing fuel

Technology Storage Discharge Power Energy Operation and

duration time capital cost Capital cost maintenance
cost
Large CAES Hours- 1-24+ hours 400- 2-120$/kWh 0.003$kWh
months 1000$/kW
Small CAES Hours- Up to 1 hour 500- 200- Very low
months 1500$/kW 250$/kWh
LAES - 1-12 hours 900- 260- -
2000$/kW 530$/kWh
consumption by 22-25% and improves
cycle efficiency from 42% to 54%. The
average running reliability is 96.8% and
99.5%, average starting reliability is 91.2%
and 92.1% during generation and
compression cycles respectively.
Specification and comparison of CAES:

Huntorf plant

Mcintosh Plant:
 the power can be released almost
instantaneously. A merit over pumped
storage is that the visible impact on the
landscape is low. The efficiency of the
320MW plant in Germany, Huntorf is
about 42% and that in Mcintosh is 54%.
They are 20% less than the efficiency of
pumped storage plants. Employ
compressed air in gas fired power plants
for regeneration, which limits efficiency
Number of cycles per year
and creates emissions.
Pumped hydroelectric storage is high
technical maturity storage technology with
an installed total capacity of 127-129 GW
in 2012 and represents around 99% of
worldwide bulk storage capacity.

2 salt caverns in The McIntosh facility

Huntorf operating at a deploys a heat The capital cost of adding
high pressure between recuperator to reuse incremental amount of storage
4.8Mpa and 6.6Mpa. part of heat energy capacity can be much lower than for
The plant runs in from the exhaust of other comparable storage
daily cycle with 8 gas turbines thereby technologies. CAES consumes
hours of compressed reducing fuel significantly lesser fuel than
air charging and 2 consumption by 22- conventional gas turbine per unit of
hours of expansion 25% and improves energy delivered. Greenhouse effect
operation at a rated cycle efficiency from emissions from wind/CAES systems
power of 290 MW. 42% to 54%. can be quite low. The demand for
flexible balancing power to maintain
It has excellent The average running grid stability shows strong growth.
performance statics reliability is 96.8% and Wind and solar are highly weather
with 90% availability 99.5%, average starting dependent and show an intermittency
and 99% starting reliability is 91.2% and between zero and 85 % of the
reliability. The round- 92.1% during maximum installed capacity. If the
trip efficiency of this generation and electricity grid is to remain stable,
plant is about 42%. compression cycles these fluctuations must be balanced.
respectively

Comparison:
CAES power plants are a realistic
alternative to pumped-hydro power plants.
The Capital expenditure and operating
expenditure for operating diabatic plants
are competitive. Just as pumped storage,
 Minimum 43bar
operation(exceptional) 70bar
Minimum operation
(regular)
Maximum permissible
and operational
Maximum pressure 15 bar/h
reduction rate
Huntorf plant specifications
The air that is heated up during
Capital cost of CAES in comparision to other
compression process must be cooled down
storage to the ambient temperature before it can be
stored in the cavern. This cold air must be
reheated for discharge of the storage
facility since it cools strongly when
expanding in a turbine for power
generation. This results in a considerable
decrease of the efficiency. The air is stored
and used daily and not for a long term.
This results in pressure fluctuation which
has consequences on the size and design of
the cavern. Also, humidity can lead to
Technical maturity
more corrosion of the underground bore-
Challenges: hole equipment, the cavern heads, pipes
and fittings. Turbine must cope with the
Output
considerable fluctuations in pressures. 1
Turbine operation 290MW(<3hrs)
million m3 of salt cavern would cost less
Compressor operation 60MW(<12hrs)
Air flow rates than a 1000 m3 cylinder. Adiabatic
Turbine operation 417kg/s systems require large thermal storage
Compressor operation 108kg/s which are massive entailing to high costs
Air mass flow ratio 1/4 and large parasitic loads.
in/out
Number of cavers 2
Air cavern 1,40,000m3 Developments:
volumes(single) 1.70.000m3
3,10,000m3 Solarelectric ltd has developed two highly
Total volume of efficient forms of Compressed air energy
cavern storage known as the TES CAES and
Cavern location top CCGT CAES. They are capable of
and bottom 650m compressing the air to 70 bar and also
top 800m store heat.
bottom
Maximum diameter 60m
Well spacing 220m TES CAES licensed from TES CAES
Cavern pressures technology limited is adiabatic and
Minimum permissible 1 bar
involves no burning of gas. They have
20bar
efficiency of 60-70% and also are zero
emission plants.
CCGT is a diabatic and burns gas during
regeneration. It has efficiency of 55-60%
but is cheaper to build and be retro fitted to
existing power stations.
ADELE
Adele places extremely heavy demands on
the equipment used: Cyclical stresses,
temperatures of over 600oC and pressure
of up to 100 bar. Current plans
• In latest planning of CAES plants,
the motor-compressor unit and the
turbine-generator unit will be
mechanically decoupled. This
makes it possible to expand the
plant standardly with respect to the
permissible input power and the
output power.
• Currently, there have been several
works in the development of
Hybrid Compressed Air Battery is
developed by a UK based
company- Energetix group. The
power range is between 2kW and a
few MW. The adaptation of Scroll
expander technology has led to
high expansion efficiency in
Hybrid CAB. The system uses pre-
prepared compressed air. The
hybrid connection to
supercapacitor allows fast
responses CAES can address the
vast market disruption and sytem
risk caused by the mass build-up of
renewable energy.Store electric
believes it can achieve a levelized
cost of electricity of £100/MWh
cheaper than gas fired peaking
plants and levelized cost of storage
of 68£/MWh cheaper than hydro.
The university of Chester, UK is building
a test facility with a capacity of 200kW.
5 caverns located in Cheshire capable of
20MW for 50 hours are planned to be
operational soon. Also, 500MW
commercial facility in Cheshire is planned
to be operational in 2 years.
Siemens, PwC, GE are all part of this
project. The European network
Transmission service operators Electricity
set up by European commission has
included projects in Cheshire as part of
their 10 year development plan and has
officially recognized it as important
infrastructure at a continental scale.
Areas of application and economics:
• Balancing Energy (supply and
demand)
• Higher utilization and greater
integration with renewable energy
• . Stabilizing conventional
• For customers on dynamic rates
CAES allows energy arbitrage
opportunities.
• Energy storage technologies are
currently not uniformly deployed
but will create jobs in
manufacturing and installation as
the technology market penetration
expands.
• In addition, through energy grid
stabilization and smoothening, the
technology is expected to support
economic growth objectives.
Conclusion:
During surplus energy, on a windy day, the
power can be stored and then fed into the
grid during the calm. If this succeeds on a
large scale, the integration of conventional
power plants with renewable resources can
be optimized. Though storage technologies
may not be a solution to all the problems,
they could considerably gain importance in
tomorrow’s electricity market.

• References:
http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/65595
/1/WRAP_Luo_1-s2.0-
S1876610214034547-main.pdf
• http://energystorage.org/compres
sed-air-energy-storage-caes
• https://www.power-
technology.com/features/featurec
ould-air-be-the-next-big-battery-
breakthrough-5864457/
• http://www.climatetechwiki.org/t
echnology/jiqweb-caes
• http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewd
oc/download?doi=10.1.1.374.7597
&rep=rep1&type=pdf
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=K4yJx5yTzO4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Bj2jTm0PtWw