Study of Electrical Grid Profile & Behavior and its Impact on Design and Operation of Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) Systems

Abstract

Integration of intermittent renewable energy, such as wind and solar, into the electrical grid results in risk of instability, increased cost (due to higher reserve and ancillary requirements), and inefficiency. In Ontario, integration of wind energy has been a significant contributor to increased energy prices. In addition to that, a lack of storage capacity has resulted in 7.6 terawatt-hours (TWh) of curtailment of clean energy at a value of more than one billion dollars [1]. These issues can be mitigated by using Electrical Energy Storage (EES) technologies (multiple studies have shown this). Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is a proven EES technology with more than 40 years of operating history. In the recent years, there has been a renewed interest in developing CAES technology; however, the research has primarily focused on improving existing technology and its individual components, which creates a gap in research from a whole system design perspective. Furthermore, the studies of the role of CAES system in the electrical power grid has been mainly based on the sizing and performance of the existing systems, which does not take into account the potential capabilities of CAES, if it is designed and sized for specific applications and requirements. This research studies the impact of performance requirements on the design and operation of any potential CAES system using one full year worth of real operating data from the Ontario grid for analysis. The objective is to introduce a new approach to designing CAES systems based on specific grid requirements. In addition, a model is developed to identify the thermodynamic performance requirements of the system under real operating conditions.