Thermodynamic Analysis of Compressed Air Energy Storage System (CAES) Based on Huntorf Case

In this study, the thermodynamic characteristics of the compressed air energy storage system (CAES) are investigated based on the operation parameters of the Huntorf CAES plant with Aspen Plus. We can get know from the simulation results that power consumption of the compressor train can be reduced with lower cooling temperature between the compressors. More power is generated with the same CAES with lower temperature of the compressed air storage cavern because of more enthalpy of compressed air are storage in the cavern with low temperature. Round trip efficiency (RTE) of the system can be improved with gradient utilization of the entrance pressure of the high pressure (HP) turbine. The enthalpy of the compressed air is raised with high HP turbine entrance temperature. More power is generated with the compressed air with much more enthalpy. The RTE of the system can be improved obviously by means of recovering the waste heat from the exhaust air from the low pressure (LP) turbine to preheat the compressed air before entering the HP turbine for generating power. More than 30% of the fuel can be saved with the Huntorf plant with the same capacity if the waste heat is recovered effectively. © 2019, Science Press. All right reserved.