The Fracture Influence on the Energy Loss of Compressed Air Energy Storage in Hard Rock

Abstract

A coupled nonisothermal gas flow and geomechanical numerical modeling is conducted to study the influence of fractures (joints) on the complex thermohydromechanical (THM) performance of underground compressed air energy storage (CAES) in hard rock caverns. The air-filled chamber is modeled as porous media with high porosity, high permeability, and high thermal conductivity. The present analysis focuses on the CAES in hard rock caverns at relatively shallow depth, that is, ≤100 m, and the pressure in carven is significantly higher than ambient pore pressure. The influence of one discrete crack and multiple crackson energy loss analysis of cavern in hard rock media are carried out. Two conditions are considered during each storage and release cycle, namely, gas injection and production mass being equal and additional gas injection supplemented after each cycle. The influence of the crack location, the crack length, and the crack open width on the energy loss is studied.

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“…The impurity content will affect the behavior of the formation: An impurity content of less than 20% has practically no effect on the behavior of granular salt, but an impurity content of 30% or higher sees a predominance of the behavior of the impurities in the saline material [35]. Other interspersed formations in the saline formation could even reach the point of restricting the dimensions of the cavity [36] and, in this case, limit the energy storage capacity.…”

“…It is possible to distinguish three aspects to be considered: (i) cavern shape [33,36]; (ii) availability of fresh water, given that the operation and construction of the cavern are achieved with the dissolution technique; a fresh water concession will be required for this purpose; and (iii) brine management. A hypersaline fluid will be extracted during the construction process, which must be properly managed before disposing it into the environment.…”

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