How can compressed air energy storage improve the stability of China's power grid?

The intermittent nature of renewable energy poses challenges to the stability of the existing power grid. Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) that stores energy in the form of high-pressure air has the potential to deal with the unstable supply of renewable energy at large scale in China.

What is CAES (compressed air energy storage)?

Recently, a major breakthrough has been made in the field of research and development of the Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) system in China, which is the completion of integration test on the world-first 300MW expander of advanced CAES system marking the smooth transition from development to production.

Where is a 100 mw compressed air energy storage system located?

A 100 MW compressed air energy storage system in Zhangjiakou, China. The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has switched on a 100 MW compressed air energy storage (CAES) plant in Zhangjiakou, in China's Hebei province.

Is China ready to commercialize energy storage?

China is currently in the early stage of commercializing energy storage. As of 2017, the cumulative installed capacity of energy storage in China was 28.9 GW , accounting for only 1.6% of the total power generating capacity (1777 GW ), which is still far below the goal set by the State Grid of China (i.e., 4%–5% by 2020) .

What is compressed air energy storage?

Compressed air energy storage is derived from gas turbine technology, and the concept of using compressed air to store electric energy dates back to the 1940s . The principle of a traditional CAES plant is described as follows (Fig. 1a).

What percentage of energy storage systems are installed in China?

According to statistics data from Zhiyan Consulting, an industry research institute in Beijing, by the end of 2020, CAES accounted for only 0.2 per cent of the global energy storage market, and only 0.03 per cent in China. However, energy storage systems totalling 4,000MW were installed in 2021, according to a March report in People’s Daily.