Thermodynamic analysis of an underwater compressed air energy storage system

Abstract

Compressed air energy storage technology is considered as an effective way to solve the intermittency and instability of renewable energy. In this paper, an underwater compressed air energy storage system is investigated. The thermodynamic model of the system is established to explore the system performance. The parameter analysis is carried out to study the effect of heat exchange efficiency, compressor efficiency, gas velocity in header pipe and offshore distance on system performance. The analysis results show that the increase of heat exchanger efficiency and compressor efficiency is beneficial for increasing system efficiency. Lower gas velocity in header pipe and lower offshore distance could make the system reach higher energy density.