Initial Results of Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) Dynamic Process Model

The amount of wind and solar generation has seen exponential growth during the recent decades, and the trend is to continue with an increased pace. Due to the intermittency of the resources, a threat is posed on grid stability and a need created for regulation. One solution to control the imbalance between supply and demand is to store the electricity temporarily, which in this paper was addressed by implementing a dynamic model of adiabatic compressed air energy storage (CAES) with Apros dynamic simulation software. Based on the literature review, the existing models due to their simplifications do not allow transient situations e.g. start-ups to be studied, and despite of its importance, part-load operation has not been studied with sufficient precision. The implemented model was validated against analytical calculations (nominal load) and literature information (part-load), showing considerable correlation. By incorporating the system with wind generation and electricity demand, the grid operation of CAES was studied. In order to enable this, the start-up and shutdown sequences based on manufacturer information were approximated in dynamic environment, to the authors’ best knowledge, for the first time. The initial results indicate that the modularly designed model offers an accurate framework for numerous studies in the future.