Optimization of Micro-CAES and TES Systems for Trigeneration

Paolo Maria Congedo, Cristina Baglivo (), Simone Panico, Domenico Mazzeo and Nicoletta Matera
Additional contact information
Paolo Maria Congedo: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Cristina Baglivo: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Simone Panico: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Domenico Mazzeo: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Nicoletta Matera: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Energy storage makes energy continuously available, programmable, and at power levels different from the original intensity. This study investigates the feasibility of compressed-air energy storage (CAES) systems on a small scale. In addition to the CAES systems, there are two TES (thermal energy storage) systems for the recovery of calories and frigories. The micro-CAES + TES system is designed for a single-family residential building equipped with a photovoltaic system with a nominal power of 3 kW. The system is optimized as a potential alternative to battery storage for a typical domestic photovoltaic system. The multi-objective optimization analysis is carried out with the modeFRONTIER software. Once the best configuration of the micro-CAES + TES system is identified, it is compared with electrochemical storage systems, considering costs, durability, and performance. The efficiency of CAES (8.4%) is almost one-tenth of the efficiency of the most efficient batteries on the market (70–90%). Its discharge times are also extremely short. It is shown that the advantages offered by the application of mechanical accumulation on a small scale are mainly related to the exploitation of the thermal waste of the process and the estimated useful life compared to the batteries currently on the market. The studied system proves to be non-competitive compared to batteries because of its minimal efficiency and high cost.

Keywords: CAES; TES; small-scale; battery storage; optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/17/6232/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/17/6232/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:17:p:6232-:d:898813

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().