Modeling underground performance of compressed air energy storage in a practical flat aquifer: Insights on the permeability effects

Yi Li, Ping Xue, Yi Li, Yaning Liu, Jingrui Wang and Wenjie Yin

Energy, 2025, vol. 322, issue C

Abstract: Compressed air energy storage in aquifers (CAESA) is a novel large-scale energy storage technology. However, the permeability effects on underground processes and responsive wellhead performance require further investigation. In this study, a coupled wellbore and aquifer model is developed based on the practical Dezhou CAESA test in flat aquifers. A novel index, the Pressure Fluctuation Index (PFI), is proposed to evaluate energy storage performance from the perspective of wellhead pressure fluctuations, alongside efficiency and gas recovery. It is found that the balance between effective air support loss due to diffusion and the aquifer's inherent deliverability controls response performance at different permeability levels. The dominance between these two competing factors shifts as permeability increases. An optimal permeability of 100md is identified for achieving the best energy storage performance. With a cyclic rate increase, the performance shows the opposite trends in different permeability regions and the optimum permeability becomes larger. When considering the initial air bubble, better energy storage performance and a larger optimum permeability can be achieved with greater mass. In high-permeability regions, larger injection rates improve efficiency and gas recovery, while pressure fluctuations perform slightly worse in low-permeability regions. The findings provide valuable insights for site selection and engineering optimization.

Keywords: Compressed air energy storage in aquifers; Underground energy storage performance; Permeability; Pressure fluctuation; Numerical simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:322:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225012344

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135592

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