“Analysis of transient performance of a compressed air energy storage plant”,

Electrical energy storage might become a strategic topic if distributed generation will be matched with stochastic sources as wind or sun. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is one of the most promising options today: energy is stored as pressurized air in a cavern. Transient phenomena, occurring during the charging process, are analyzed in this paper. Two kinds of systems are considered with or without pressure compensation; in fact a water column can be used to link the cavern to a pond in order to compensate the pressure oscillations. A lumped parameter model has been adjusted by the authors to simulate the initial charging and the subsequent surge. The obtained results supply some insight about the safe working conditions and also the surge operation.