Experimental and numerical investigations of a compressed air energy storage (CAES) system as a wind energy storage option

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental evaluation of compact compressed air energy storage (CAES) system. The advantages of such a system are low cost, easy coupling with renewable resources (mainly wind energy), and high efficiency. While the system considered here is compact in size, the results obtained on the performance parameters, such as efficiency of energy conversion and expected electrical output, can be generalized for upscaling purposes. The main challenge with larger systems is the heat generated due to compression, which is not a major issue for the current system. Larger systems, however, enable operating at higher pressures, which means larger stored potential energy which in the case of 1 bar differential gave up to 13% higher kinetic energy.