Design, thermodynamic, and wind assessments of a compressed air energy storage (CAES) integrated with two adjacent wind farms: A case study at Abhar and Kahak sites, Iran

Wind speed fluctuation at wind farms leads to intermittent and unstable power generation with diverse amplitudes and frequencies. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) is an energy storage technology which not only copes with the stochastic power output of wind farms, but it also assists in peak shaving and provision of other ancillary grid services. In this paper, a CAES facility is proposed for two adjacent wind farms, Abhar and Kahak sites in Iran, with a total nominal power of 162.5 MW. To assess site peak profiles and storage potential, annual thermodynamic and wind assessments are carried out predominantly for the three critical months of the year requiring mitigation of electricity scarcity (July, August, and September). Results indicate that the sustained wind speed in July at both the Abhar and Kahak sites is higher than the other two critical months. Around 93, 74 and 60 MW stored power in the CAES facility are added to the grid during 5 h of peak demand in July, August and September months with round trip efficiencies of 52, 47, and 43%, respectively.