System behaviour of compressed-air energy-storage in Denmark with a high penetration of renewable energy sources

In 2005, wind power supplied 19% of the 36 TWh annual electricity demand in Denmark, while 50% was produced at combined heat-and-power plants (CHP). The installed wind-turbine capacity in Western Denmark exceeds the local demand at certain points in time. So far, excess production has been exported to neighbouring countries. However, plans to expand wind power both in Denmark and in its neighbouring countries could restrain the export option and create transmission congestion challenges. This results in a need to increase the flexibility of the local electricity-system. Compressed-Air Energy-Storage (CAES) has been proposed as a potential solution for levelling fluctuating wind-power production and maintaining a system balance. This paper analyses the energy-balance effects of adding CAES to the Western Danish energy-system. Results show that even with an unlimited CAES plant capacity, excess power production is not eliminated because of the high percentage of CHP production. The optimal wind-power penetration for maximum CAES operation is found to be around 55%. The minimum storage size for CAES to fully eliminate condensing power plants operation in the optimized system is over 500 GWh, which corresponds to a cavern volume of around 234 Mm3 at an average pressure of 60 bar. Such a storage size would be technically and economically unfeasible. The analysis, however, did not include the potential role of a CAES plant in regulating the power services.