Review of Coupling Methods of Compressed Air Energy Storage Systems and Renewable Energy Resources

Abstract

With the strong advancement of the global carbon reduction strategy and the rapid development of renewable energy, compressed air energy storage (CAES) technology has received more and more attention for its key role in large-scale renewable energy access. This paper summarizes the coupling systems of CAES and wind, solar, and biomass energies from the perspective of system topology, and points out the advantages and limitations of each system. It is shown that the coupling of wind energy and CAES is mainly combined in series and in parallel, and sometimes part of the wind power can be converted into thermal energy when coupled to CAES. The coupling between solar heat and CAES is an important form of coupling between solar energy and CAES. Solar-heat-coupled CAES mainly uses solar energy to heat expander inlet air. The coupling forms of solar energy and CAES are based on various CAES forms, various heat heating sequences, reheating, bottom cycle, and other factors. The combination of biomass and CAES is generally based on biomass gasification power generation technology. In the future, a wind–solar–CAES multiple coupling system is expected to become a promising large-scale form for the utilization of renewable energy, and this integrated system has great potential as a system configuration, but has some technical challenges.