CAES in Power Systems with High Wind Penetration

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CAES in Power Systems with High Wind Penetration
October 2009
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Gaelectric in Ireland

• Founded 2004
• Approx. 60 employees
• 120 MW in planning in NI
• 85 MW in planning in ROI

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Gaelectric Montana
Size denotes number of Mw
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CAES Efficiency
CAES has characteristics of CT and of storage,
but CAES has two energy form inputs as
electricity and gas, and only electricity as its
product. CAES efficiency, or its thermodynamic
efficiency, is the output divided by the sum of
the inputs.
Energy ratio Electricity in/Electricity out

• Energy ratio is very site, technology and plant
  design specific
• Dresser Rand (122 MW) (0.73 -.075) 48 thermo
  efficiency
• Electricity storage Power (150 MW) (0.70)
  50 thermo efficiency
• Alstom/GE (150 MW) (0.60 0.65) 55-60
  thermo efficiency
• Adiabatic CAES 70 Thermo efficiency!!

Air in
H.R. Fuel in
E.R. is a partial description of CAES operation
for an equipment and cavern design, a given cycle
and loading, and a set of operating conditions.
Reservoir
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Huntorf CAES

• 290MW CAES plant
• Commissioned 1978
• Developed to provide black-start for nearby
  nuclear plant
• Still operational today
• Third cavern to be leached scalable storage

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McIntosh, Alabama

• 110MW CAES plant
• Commissioned 1991
• Provide flexibility to a portfolio of coal
  plants
• Still operational today
• Foot print size

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CAES potential in Ireland
GAELECTRIC CONSIDERED

• Porous rock
• No depleted gas fields, no suitable aquifer
• structures known
• Disused mines
• Not deep enough, fractured
• Salt deposits
• Unique to East Antrim the only option for CAES

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Salt caverns 5 decades storing gas
UK In operation 6 storage facilities,
43 caverns In construction / planned 7
storage facilities, gt100 caverns Worldwide
operational gas storage facilities in salt
Storage
facilities No. Of caverns Europe
33 270
USA Canada 36
164 Total
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434 (sources
International Gas Union, British Geological
Survey)
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Larne Unique geological potential for CAES
(KBB-UT)
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Location Infrastructure Grid, Gas Seawater
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Many CAES studies inadequate

• Huntorf and McIntosh built for specific reasons
• Many studies consider a McIntosh (1991)-type
  merchant CAES in a merit-order system
• Old technology, limited application, fails to
  capture real potential
• Markets and plant mix have changed. Compressor
  and combustion technologies significantly
  improved
• CAES has a new relevance with high renewables
  penetration
• Modern CAES will optimise cavern array/volume
  and plant configuration to maximise returns in
  high-wind scenario

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CAES Modelling Ireland - WILMAR
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Wind drives CAES
Shadow Prices /MWhr
Increasing spreads
8,000 MW
4,000 MW
6,000 MW
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Annual System Benefits
Feature Annual Benefits 2015 to 2020
CAES Size 150
Reduced System Costs 6-7mln (up to 42mln)
Reduced Emissions 50,000 tonnes CO2
Curtailment Mitigates the need to curtail wind
Price Reduction CAES with wind helps reduce system prices
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Key Results

• Reduce energy ratio - more utilisation
• More wind - more utilisation
• Less optimal plant mix more utilisation
• 150 MW plant utilised more than a 300 MW plant
• Societal benefits
• Reduced system costs
• Reduced emissions
• Reduced wind curtailment

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Top High Rank Candidate Sites
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CAES in a Depleted Gas Field Research Challenges
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Overview of DOE Funding for CAES

• Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
• Grants of up to 20mln permitted (80 federal,
  20 match funding)
• Project to demonstrate the cycling of compressed
  air in a reservoir
• 400mln to be allocated in April/May 2010. Met
  directly with US DOE and follow-up meeting in
  Washington in Q1 2010.
• American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009
• Grants of up to 60mln permitted (50 federal,
  50 match funding)
• To involve RTOS, ISOs, IOUs as project,
  investors as project collaborator (team
  member/financial contributor)
• Integrated team involving Gaelectric, utility,
  state, national labs, investors

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Transformational Technology
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Next Steps

• CAES Larne
• Load-flow modelling of CAES Locational benefits
  of CAES for NI
• Developing a framework with stakeholders for
  entry of CAES into the system/market
• Q4 2010/Q1 2011 to commence drilling of salt
• CAES Montana
• Well positioned for federal funding of up to
  5mln to demonstrate air storage in a depleted
  gas field
• World first and transformational for bulk energy
  storage