Solving Challenges in Renewable Energy Storage

A Closer Look at Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) Systems

April 6, 2023 | Start Time 10:00 – 11:00 AM EDT

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The increasing demand for renewable energy sources is driven by the need to reduce the harmful impact of traditional fossil fuel-based methods of electricity generation on the environment. However, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and tidal is inherently intermittent and non-dispatchable which leads to suboptimal operation of associated energy generating systems. Thus, the development of accumulation and storage technologies is crucial for practical usage and economic feasibility of renewable energy sources. For large-scale storage applications, pumped hydro storage and compressed air storage are the most used technologies. While hydro storage technology is currently the most prevalent, it still has negative impacts on the environment. Therefore, CAES has received a lot of attention in recent years.

To properly evaluate CAES systems, transient effects must be considered, including the time it takes to charge the air storage by compressors and the convective heat transfer that affects the fluid's physical parameters. Discharging the air storage also affects the turbine due to constantly changing air mass and pressure. Evaluating the range of time that the CAES system can cover with a given load on the power grid is also necessary since power-consuming peaks can vary. AxSTREAM System Simulation is a tool that can successfully solve these tasks by enabling users to perform and analyze stationary and transient CAES processes to determine boundary conditions and requirements.

In this webinar, we will discuss existing energy storage solutions with a focus on CAES systems and analyze transient operation under power-consuming peaks in the power grid. We’ll analyze the influence of turbomachinery parameters and their inclusion in the system during transient processes of charging and discharging the system, as well as convective heat transfer processes in the cavern that impacts system performance and exergy.  The webinar will conclude by analyzing the operating modes of turbomachines, discussing their design requirements and boundary condition choices.

This webinar will contain the following:

• Overview of energy storage systems, their classifications, and applications
• Transient simulation of CAES systems and analysis of operating modes for their turbomachinery
• Analyzing possible turbomachinery configurations and determination of their boundary conditions

Who should attend:

• Engineers in the energy storage and production industry (including but not limited to those involved in turbomachinery, secondary flow systems, etc.)
• Engineers seeking efficient and reliable tools for modeling systems at various levels of fidelity and integration
• Engineering managers interested in reducing project lead time and resources through digital engineering
• Engineering students looking to better understand interactions between energy storage and energy production systems

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