Study of the Basque–Cantabrian basin as a suitable region for the implementation of an energy storage system based on compressed air energy storage (CAES)

The fight against climate change requires harnessing novel technologies to decrease CO2 emissions. Renewable energy must be among the main strategies for complying with the COP-21 agreements. Energy storage technologies will play a crucial role in increasing the efficiency and availability of this kind of energy source. Moreover, energy storage technologies will help reduce the supply risk of the electric power system, by overcoming the uncertainty of renewable energy generation. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) enables large amounts of energy to be accumulated reliably. Although there are different structures in the subsurface that may be considered for this purpose, the development of CAES in a salt dome offers several technical and economic advantages. Furthermore, currently this kind of structure is the only one used for this purpose on an industrial scale. In order to reduce the inherent risk associated with the definition and selection of subsurface structures, this study proposes a multi-criteria algorithm based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology. In this scenario, the algorithm focuses on the process to rank salt domes for CAES development. The study applies this methodology in the Basque–Cantabrian basin, where as many as eleven structures have been examined.