Air energy storage news

What is a compressed air energy storage project?

A compressed air energy storage (CAES) project in Hubei, China, has come online, with 300MW/1,500MWh of capacity. The 5-hour duration project, called Hubei Yingchang, was built in two years with a total investment of CNY1.95 billion (US$270 million) and uses abandoned salt mines in the Yingcheng area of Hubei, China’s sixth-most populous province.

How efficient is a compressed air storage system?

This could prove to be key; compressed air storage systems have typically offered round-trip efficiencies between 40-52 percent, and Quartz is reporting more like 60 percent for this system. Hydrostor’s A-CAES also makes use of a closed-loop reservoir to maintain the system at a constant pressure during operation.

Will compressed air be viable?

Some of the biggest questions surrounding the viability of compressed air involve economics. Hydrostor expects its Kern County project to produce just 60% to 65% of the electricity it consumes — a larger loss of energy than with lithium-ion batteries and several other kinds of storage.

What is compressed air storage?

Compressed-air storage existed before Hydrostor—plants in Germany and Alabama have been around for decades and use variations on this approach. Hydrostor’s system uses a supersize air compressor that ideally would run on renewable electricity.

Why is compressed air better than hydrogen storage?

Using air reduces overhead and materials costs compared with hydrogen storage. Compressed air is stored during surplus times and fed back during peak usage. Two new compressed air storage plants will soon rival the world’s largest non-hydroelectric facilities and hold up to 10 gigawatt hours of energy.

Is compressed air energy storage a viable alternative to pumped hydro?

Another technology that's been in use for decades is compressed air energy storage (CAES), which can store energy on a grid scale and is billed as having the reliability of pumped hydro, without the same constraints on where you can build it.