Dynamic Simulation and Economic Analysis of 10 MW-Class Distributed Compressed Air Energy Storage System

Compared with salt caverns and artificial cavities, using pipeline steel as above-ground gas storage chambers offers greater advantages for small-scale distributed compressed air energy storage (CAES) systems. This paper establishes a detailed dynamic simulation model of a 10 MW-class distributed CAES system based on AMESIM software. The research investigates key parameters such as discharge duration, above-ground storage chamber volume, system efficiency, and energy storage density under different energy storage durations and different maximum storage pressures of the above-ground storage chambers. In addition, an economic analysis of the system is also conducted. The results show that heat loss of the thermal storage and exchange system is the main cause of energy loss in the CAES system. As the energy storage duration increases, the volume of above-ground storage chambers increases, while the system efficiency remains unchanged and energy storage density increases, meanwhile, the reduction rate of the static payback period gradually slows down. With an increase of maximum ground chamber pressure, the chamber volume decreases, system efficiency declines and energy storage density increases, while the static payback period first declines and then rises. When the maximum pressure of the above-ground chamber rises from 9 MPa to 14 MPa, the system efficiency drops from 67.59% to 54.37%. The minimum static payback period of 8.29 years is achieved at the optimal pressure of 11.8 MPa.