Dynamic performance of compressed air energy storage (CAES) plant for applications in power systems

This paper discusses the modeling and the dynamic performance of a compressed air energy storage (CAES) plant that converts excess energy available in the power system into stored pneumatic energy by means of a compressor. The charge and discharge modes of the device are performed within maximum power conditions, so that an intermittent time-modulated operation with adjustable speed of the rotor pneumatic motor is required. Under this scenario, the power electronic technology and its control scheme play an important role in the effective integration of the CAES system into the electrical power grid. The dynamics of the electronic power conditioning system (PCS) directly influences the validity of the CAES in the dynamic control of the power system since it allows controlling the power exchange between them. The analysis of the proposed systems is performed by computer simulation using SimPowerSystems of MATLAB/Simulink.