Compressed air energy storage facility with water tank for thermal recovery

The paper presents the prototype of the first Romanian Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) installation. The relatively small scale facility consists of a twin-screw compressor, driven by a 110 kW threephase asynchronous motor, which supplies pressurized air into a 50m3 reservoir, of 20 bar maximum pressure. The air from the vessel is released into a twin-screw expander, whose shaft spins a 132 kW electric generator. The demonstrative model makes use of a 5m3 water tank acting as heat transfer unit, for minimising losses and increasing efficiency and the electric power generated. Air compression and decompression induce energy losses, resulting in a low efficiency, mainly caused by air heating during compression, waste heat being released into the atmosphere. A similar problem is air cooling during decompression, lowering the electric power generated. Thus, using a thermal storage unit plays an essential role in the proper functioning of the facility and in generating maximum electric power. Supervisory control and data acquisition is performed from the automation cabinets. During commissioning tests, a constant stable power of around 50 kW with an 80 kW peak was recorded.