A Feasibility Study on Operating Large Scale Compressed Air Energy Storage in Porous Formations

Abstract:

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) in porous formations has been considered as one promising option of large scale energy storage for decades. This study, hereby, aims at analyzing the feasibility of operating large scale CAES in porous formations and evaluating the performance of underground porous gas reservoirs. To address these issues quantitatively, a hypothetic CAES scenario with a typical anticline structure in northern Germany was numerically simulated. Because of the rapid growth in photovoltaics, the period of extraction in a daily cycle was set to the early morning and the late afternoon in order to bypass the massive solar energy production around noon. The gas turbine scenario was defined referring to the specifications of the Huntorf CAES power plant. The numerical simulations involved two stages, i.e. initial fill and cyclic operation, and both were carried out using the Eclipse E300 simulator (Schlumberger). Pressure loss in the gas wells was post analyzed using an analytical solution. The exergy concept was applied to evaluate the potential energy amount stored in the specific porous formation. The simulation results show that porous formations prove to be a feasible solution of large scale CAES. The initial fill with shut-in periods determines the spatial distribution of the gas phase and helps to achieve higher gas saturation around the wells, and thus higher deliverability. The performance evaluation shows that the overall exergy flow of stored compressed air is also determined by the permeability, which directly affects the deliverability of the gas reservoir and thus the number of wells required.