Modular compressed air energy storage system for 5kw wind turbine: A feasibility study

This paper primarily focuses on a systematic top-down approach in the structural and feasibility analysis of the novel modular system which integrates a 5 kW wind turbine with compressed air storage built within the tower structure, thus replacing the underground cavern storing process. The design aspects of the proposed modular compressed air storage system (CAES) were executed to eliminate the multistage air compression process and overcome the adverse safety issues of underground caverns prevailing in the conventional system. Moreover, the waste heat treatment can be eliminated owing to its low-pressure operation (8 bar max) which reduces the complexity of the system. A detailed structural analysis was conducted for the foundation, tower structure, storage chamber and wind blades using the Structural Analysis and Designing Program (STAADPRO) and Analysis System (ANSYS) software for a basic wind speed of 180 km/hour (50 m/sec) as per the IS 875 (Part 3): 2015. Certainly, the results proved that the system remained stable at its natural and sub-harmonic frequencies. However, to ensure the feasible operation of the concept, a prototype model was tested for wind speeds starting from 3 m/s and was found to compress up to a maximum of 8 bar pressure.