Review of Energy Storage Technologies for Compressed-Air Energy Storage

Abstract

Energy systems play a significant role in harvesting energy from several sources and converting it to the energy forms needed for applications in numerous sectors, e.g., utility, industry, building, and transportation. In the coming years, energy storage will play a key role in an efficient and renewable energy future; more than it does in today’s fossil-based energy economy. There are different strategies for energy storage. Among these strategies, storage of mechanical energy via suitable media is broadly utilized by human beings. Mechanical energy storage systems (MESS) are among the utmost effective and sustainable energy storage systems. There are three main types of mechanical energy storage systems; pumped hydro, flywheel, and compressed air. This review discusses the recent progress in mechanical energy storage systems focusing on compressed air energy storage (CAES). It also discusses the advances and evolution in compressed air energy storage (CAES) technologies which improve the thermal process and incorporate CAES with other subsystems to improve system efficiency and compares these technologies in terms of their performance, capacity, response, and utilizations as well as the challenges facing CAES as emissions that may harm the environment, the consumption of fossil fuels or requiring certain geological formations then modifications and developments to overcome these challenges.