Design of a Modular Solid-Based Thermal Energy Storage for a Hybrid Compressed Air Energy Storage System

Author(s):  
Reza Baghaei Lakeh ◽  
Ian C. Villazana ◽  
Sammy Houssainy ◽  
Kevin R. Anderson ◽  
H. Pirouz Kavehpour

The share of renewable energy sources in the power grid is showing an increasing trend world-wide. Most of the renewable energy sources are intermittent and have generation peaks that do not correlate with peak demand. The stability of the power grid is highly dependent on the balance between power generation and demand. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) systems have been utilized to receive and store the electrical energy from the grid during off-peak hours and play the role of an auxiliary power plant during peak hours. Using Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems with CAES technology is shown to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of generated power. In this study, a modular solid-based TES system is designed to store thermal energy converted from grid power. The TES system stores the energy in the form of internal energy of the storage medium up to 900 K. A three-dimensional computational study using commercial software (ANSYS Fluent) was completed to test the performance of the modular design of the TES. It was shown that solid-state TES, using conventional concrete and an array of circular fins with embedded heaters, can be used for storing heat for a high temperature hybrid CAES (HTH-CAES) system.

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khashayar Hakamian ◽  
Kevin R. Anderson ◽  
Maryam Shafahi ◽  
Reza Baghaei Lakeh

Power overgeneration by renewable sources combined with less dispatchable conventional power plants introduces the power grid to a new challenge, i.e., instability. The stability of the power grid requires constant balance between generation and demand. A well-known solution to power overgeneration is grid-scale energy storage. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) has been utilized for grid-scale energy storage for a few decades. However, conventional diabatic CAES systems are difficult and expensive to construct and maintain due to their high-pressure operating condition. Hybrid compressed air energy storage (HCAES) systems are introduced as a new variant of old CAES technology to reduce the cost of energy storage using compressed air. The HCAES system split the received power from the grid into two subsystems. A portion of the power is used to compress air, as done in conventional CAES systems. The rest of the electric power is converted to heat in a high-temperature thermal energy storage (TES) component using Joule heating. A computational approach was adopted to investigate the performance of the proposed TES system during a full charge/storage/discharge cycle. It was shown that the proposed design can be used to receive 200 kW of power from the grid for 6 h without overheating the resistive heaters. The discharge computations show that the proposed geometry of the TES, along with a control strategy for the flow rate, can provide a 74-kW microturbine of the HCAES with the minimum required temperature, i.e., 1144 K at 0.6 kg/s of air flow rate for 6 h.


Energy ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Ban ◽  
Goran Krajačić ◽  
Marino Grozdek ◽  
Tonko Ćurko ◽  
Neven Duić

Author(s):  
Abdulla Ahmed ◽  
Tong Jiang

<p>The wind energy plays an important role in power system because of its renewable, clean and free energy. However, the penetration of wind power (WP) into the power grid system (PGS) requires an efficient energy storage systems (ESS). compressed air energy storage (CAES) system is one of the most ESS technologies which can alleviate the intermittent nature of the renewable energy sources (RES). Nyala city power plant in Sudan has been chosen as a case study because the power supply by the existing power plant is expensive due to high costs for fuel transport and the reliability of power supply is low due to uncertain fuel provision. This paper presents a formulation of security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC) of diesel power plant (DPP) with the integration of CAES and PW. The optimization problem is modeled and coded in MATLAB which solved with solver GORUBI 8.0. The results show that the proposed model is suitable for integration of renewable energy sources (RES) into PGS with ESS and helpful in power system operation management.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ledesma Tores ◽  
Piotr Lapka ◽  
Roman Domański ◽  
Francisco Casares

Nowadays, due to increase in energy consumption, a great deal of fossil fuels is being used. This latter is a consequence of the present environmental problems, such as global warming, acid rain, etc. In order to decrease these problems, the use of renewable energy sources is being promoted. But the renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy, present the drawback that there is a mismatch between the energy demand and supply. To cover this mismatch, the use of phase change thermal energy storage systems is required. In this work, the behavior of a packed bed latent heat thermal energy storage system cooperating with solar collector located in south Spain was analyzed by using a numerical method which based on Finite Volume discretization and Enthalpy Method. The model was validated by comparing obtained results with experimental data reported in the literature. The packed bed was composed of spherical capsules filled with phase change materials usable for a solar water heating system. The system was designed according to the conditions in the south Spain and by using commercial components available on the market. A series of numerical simulations were conducted applying meteorological data for several months in south Spain, particularly in M?laga.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Antonio Tiano ◽  
Gianfranco Rizzo

The high concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and the increase in sea and land temperatures make the use of renewable energy sources increasingly urgent. To overcome the problem of non-programmability of renewable sources, this study analyzes an energy storage system consisting of under water compressed air energy storage (UWCAES). A case study for fully power the Sicily region (Italy) with renewable energy source (wind and photovoltaic) is presented. From the real annual capacity values of the renewable plants installed in Sicily, a sizing of both the energy production and the storage system and its auxiliary services is evaluated. The optimization of the operation of the system as a whole, modeled with mathematical models already validated in previous studies, is obtained through dynamic programming. The electricity consumed annually by the region, equal to 19048.4 GWh, can be entirely satisfied by renewable energy sources. A sizing of plants powered by renewable sources for a nominal power of 15, 000 MW equally divided between photovoltaic and wind power is considered. The underwater air storage system has a maximum volume of 2.1 × 108 m3, while the compression and generation units have a total nominal power of 6, 900 and 3, 100 MW, respectively. The study finally presents a sensitivity analysis for the evaluation of the effects of the variation of the power produced by renewable energy sources and of Sicily energy consumption. The results show that carbon-free feeding is possible and that all the boundary conditions on the operation of the system can be met.


Author(s):  
Shreyas M. Patel ◽  
Paul T. Freeman ◽  
John R. Wagner

Non-renewable energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas are being consumed at a brisk pace while greenhouse gases contribute to atmospheric pollution. A global shift is underway toward the inclusion of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, for generating electrical and mechanical power. To meet this emerging demand, a solar based electrical microgrid study is underway at Clemson University. Solar energy is harvested from photovoltaic panels capable of producing 15 kW of DC power. Compressed air energy storage has been evaluated using the generated solar power to operate an electric motor driven piston compressor. The compressed air is then stored under pressure and supplied to a natural gas driven Capstone C30 MicroTurbine with attached electric power generator. The compressed air facilitates the turbine’s rotor-blade operated compression stage resulting in direct energy savings. A series of mathematical models have been developed. To evaluate the feasibility and energy efficiency improvements, the experimental and simulation results indicated that 127.8 watts of peak power was delivered at 17.5 Volts and 7.3 Amps from each solar panel. The average power generation over a 24-hour time period from 115 panels was 15 kW DC or 6 kW of AC power at 208/240 VAC and 25 Amps from the inverter. This electrical power could run a 5.2 kW reciprocating compressor for approximately 5 hours storing 1,108 kg of air at a 1.2 MPa pressure. A case study indicated that the microturbine, when operated without compressed air storage, consumed 11.2 kg of gaseous propane for 30 kW·hr of energy generation. In contrast, the microturbine operated in conjunction with solar supplied air storage could generate 50.8 kW·hr of electrical energy for a similar amount of fuel consumption. The study indicated an 8.1% efficiency improvement in energy generated by the system which utilized compressed air energy storage over the traditional approach.


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