Abstract:

An analysis is presented of compressed air energy storage (CAES) and its potential for mitigating the intermittency of wind power, facilitating access to remote wind resources and transforming wind into baseload power. Although CAES has traditionally served other grid support applications, it is also well suited for wind balancing applications due its ability to provide long duration storage, its fast ramp rates and its high part load efficiencies. In addition, geologies potentially suitable for CAES appear to be abundant in regions with high-quality wind resources. This is especially true of porous rock formations, which have the potential to be the least costly air storage option for CAES. The characteristics of formations suitable for CAES storage and the challenges associated with using air as a storage fluid are discussed.

An optimization framework is developed for analyzing the cost of baseload plants comprised of wind turbine arrays backed by natural gas-fired generating capacity and/or CAES. The optimization model analyzes changes to key aspects of the system configuration such as the wind turbine rating, the relative capacities of the system components, the size of the CAES storage reservoir and the wind turbine spacing. The response of the optimal system configuration to changes in natural gas price, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions price, capital cost, and wind resource is also considered. Wind turbine rating is given focused attention because of its substantial impact on system configuration and output behavior.

The generation cost of baseload wind is compared to that of other baseload options. To highlight the carbon-mitigation potential of baseload wind, the competition with coal power (with and without CO2 capture and storage, CCS) is given prominent attention. The ability of alternative options to compete under dispatch competition is explored thereby clarifying the extent to which baseload wind can defend high capacity factors in the market. This analysis indicates that CAES might be well suited for balancing wind power output and enabling wind to achieve deep reductions in GHG emissions from power generation globally.