Current Situation and Engineering Application Prospect of Liquid Air Energy Storage Technology

Abstract

Liquid air energy storage (LAES)technology is a new-coming energy storage method using cryogenic technology as basic theory. It managed to reach consumption of new energy in a grid-connected way, absorbing low power properly, and stable output of many other forms of energy like industrial gas and electricity. This paper introduces the technical principle and advantages of LAES, analyzes and discusses the problems faced by the development of LAES technology and the corresponding solutions, summarizes the applied fields of LAES technology. It also looks forward to the development direction of LAES technology. LAES has the advantages of high energy storage density and low storage pressure, and is less restricted by geographical conditions. It can store the remaining or discontinuous power for a certain time and produce stable power output. LAES technology has a wide range of application prospects in the power system, providing a variety of energy storage services and market opportunities for the power system, the industrial field, providing a variety of energy recovery, peak-valley balance, emergency backup and energy conversion services for industrial production, and urban gas systems, providing a variety of energy reserve, peak load emergency, emergency backup and auxiliary services for urban gas systems. It is of great significance to improve the phenomenon of "wind abandonment" and "light abandonment" in the power generation industry and meet the demand of "peak cutting and valley filling" in the power grid system.