An adiabatic UWCAES is under development in a partnership between Hydrostor and the University of Windsor. The system configuration is such that all energy conversion is done on an offshore platform. Its proximity closer to the storage accumulators helps minimize system losses and the terrestrial footprint of the plant. The platform includes the critical thermal management process that is key system for efficiency. (2011 Brian Cheung)
Finding an effective way to store and tap into large amounts of excess wind-generated power would have the attention of many utilities and other power users. New companies are working on a range of batteries for just that purpose. Another idea – and with a 10 year success record – is Compressed Air Energy Storage or CAES.
In general, CAES systems are comprised of an air compressor, a storage vessel, and a turbo-expander. In a nutshell, electricity is converted to and generated from compressed air. In conventional CAES plants, rigid vessels or reservoirs, such as unused mines, underground caverns, and aquifers, store the compressed air.
An update of the idea comes from a collaboration between industrial partner Hydrostor Inc. and Brian Cheung, Rupp Carriveau, and David Ting, all affiliated with the University of Windsor, Ontario. Their idea is to use conventional thermodynamic concepts such as isentropic air compression, gas expansion, and heat transfer, in an UW (underwater) CAES design for long-term, high capacity, energy storage. “By going underwater, compressed air can be stored in flexible air accumulators near the bottom of lakes and oceans. Hydrostatic pressure would drive the air out when needed,” says Carriveau. “This could let electricity producers maximize use of existing assets as opposed to adding more generation and transmission infrastructure to meet peak demand.
In UWCAES, flexible air accumulators are placed near the bottom of a large body of water. As air is pumped in, the accumulators expand, like a balloon. The design air pressure within the accumulator equals the hydrostatic pressure exerted by the surrounding water. It keeps the air inside the accumulators compressed, even when partially filled. This is a key advantage over rigid containers that experience pressure reductions as their stored volume decreases.
During discharge, the rapidly expanding air can cool the turbine to a point of freezing it. So, heat must be added to prevent the freezing. To accomplish this, the UWCAES system uses the heat of compression captured during the operation’s charging phase. The heat is then stored at a nearby platform for up to eight hours before it’s applied to the discharge phase of the plant cycle.
In addition to the geographic advantage, UWCAES systems are scalable. The primary limitation in the use and performance of CAES is the fixed capacity of the reservoir. In UWCAES, simply adding air accumulators to the system increases the total reservoir capacity. The flexible nature of the system potentially allows for UWCAES deployments at scales that can be even larger than some underground systems. “Thermodynamically speaking, the compressed air in the UWCAES system has a constant pressure regardless of the filled volume,” says Carrivaeau.
Operators can count on near constant energy input and output exhibited during system charge and discharge phases. This also affords greater opportunity for improving system roundtrip efficiency because the appropriate turbomachinery can be selected to operate optimally at or near the system’s near-constant flow and pressure.
Several utility-scale CAES plants are already working. One, a 110 MW, 26-hr plant built in 1991 in McIntosh, Alabama, has an availability and starting reliability of 91.2% and 92.1%, as well as a 99.5% average running reliability for more than 10 years. WPE
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Very interesting development. I sent the following to Hydrostor:
“Good start. Of course you know that you could heat the compressed air before expansion to get more out of it. That is, heat in addition to that recovered in your present system. Solar energy would be a good source of heat. Even if heating by fossil fuel, the system would use that fuel more efficiently than conventional fossil fuel-fired turbines including combined cycle units.
You could compress the air with a hydraulic compressor, which is an isothermal compressor. Virtually no sensible heat generated, so none to store. Advantage is substantially less power required for a given mass compressed. The body of water is ideal for installing such a compressor, since it uses water for the compressing fluid and requires depth. More complicated in salt water but worth investigating.
Another advantage of the hydraulic compressor is that the dissolved air in the return water is oxygen-rich, typically close to 30% by volume compared to 21% in atmosphere, but it depends on the final pressure and the air-water ratio. This oxygen-rich air would make an air separation plant more effective. In other words, you could have a second business for your system, selling the separated gases.
Another use for the compressed air: solar-powered air conditioning. Partially expand the air in a turbine to just above the freezing point, producing power and a flow of cold air to absorb heat from the building. Then heat the partially expanded air flow further with solar energy and expand to atmosphere to produce additional power. Use the power generated in these two steps to operate the system, and there will probably be an excess of power for sale or other uses. Also, solar energy absorbed at the building in this arrangement reduces heat flow into the building, reducing the cooling load.”