Hybrid techno-economic and environmental assessment of adiabatic compressed air energy storage system in China-Situation

Abstract

Adiabatic compressed air energy storage technology is found to reliably stabilize the power load and support renewable energy generation. Comprehensive life cycle techno-economic and environmental optimization analysis for this technology are of great importance to improve system performance. In this study, we first proposed an integrated hybrid life cycle optimization framework to understand trade-offs between the techno-economic and environmental performance of adiabatic compressed air energy storage plant in China, by combining integrated hybrid life cycle analysis with multi-objective optimization. The results show that solutions with investment cost, carbon dioxide emission, water and energy consumption of 1.47 k$/kW, 1.48 kg/kWh, 0.097 m3/kWh and 2.08 × 104 kJ/kWh, respectively, are promising for a practical adiabatic compressed air energy storage system design in China. An analysis of the materials and energy contribution towards the environmental impact at selected optimum points are carried out in detail to elucidate means for reducing the life-cycle emission of the plant; besides, an impact comparison for plant installation in different provinces was performed to provide guidance for policymakers in site selection. As a result, the life-cycle carbon dioxide emission, water and energy consumption of the plant were found to be large in the provinces with a high proportion of thermal power generation — for example, Shandong and Jiangsu — yet the most environmental benefit is achieved in these provinces if the system is combined with the local power grid.