A regenerator pilot to evaluate the technical and economic relevance of energy storage by adiabatic compressed air energy storage by ceramic media
Résumé
Considering on one side that wind and photovoltaic generations are intermittent and non-dispatchable, and on the other side that consumption is also variable and non-exactly predictable, the only way to match them without additional peak generation in the system is to use storage. Many storage technologies can achieve this goal and we propose a focus on Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES). Efficiency around 70% combined with scalability from 1 to 400MW provides to this technology a valuable advantage. The SEARCH project studied technical and economic aspects of an underground 200 MW A-CAES plants which daily cycled. Thermal Energy Storage, compressed air cavern, humid air and machineries were challenge to tackle. Herein, we mainly focus on the design and construction of the Thermal Energy Storage (TES), also named regenerator, using ceramic and on economic simulation for market and ancillary services.