An analysis of a large-scale liquid air energy storage system
Open accessAbstract
Liquid air energy storage (LAES) is a class of thermo-electric energy storage that utilises cryogenic or liquid air as the storage medium. The system is charged using an air liquefier and energy is recovered through a Rankine cycle using the stored liquid air as the working fluid. The recovery, storage and recycling of cold thermal energy released during discharge more than double the overall energy efficiency of the cycle. The demand on a storage plant in a grid support application is expected to be irregular and intermittent in response to fluctuating supply from intermittent renewable generators. This will complicate the storage of thermal energy and will mean the energy flow rates in the thermal store will vary from cycle to cycle and the state of charge of the store will also vary. This paper presents an analysis of the LAES cycle. The material and configuration of the cold thermal store is discussed in particular with reference to scale and measures to mitigate losses due to the irregular and intermittent duty cycle. The paper concludes with capital and levelised cost analysis of a reference 20 MW/80 MWh LAES plant and a comparison of the levelised cost with other storage technologies.
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Cold recovery and storage significantly increase system efficiency.
“One of the key findings from the testing of the first pilot plant was the significant increase of system efficiency by cold recovery and storage [6].”
From Exergy-Based and Economic Evaluation of Liquefaction Processes for Cryogenics Energy Storage (2019) · cites this paper as [6]
Different assumptions in the different references make comparing the various configurations problematic.
“In general, different assumptions are made in the different references, e.g., ideal dry air was assumed, heat and pressure losses in most components as well as heat losses in the cold box were neglected [12], or assumed lower than 8% [6] which is why comparing the various configurations is problematic.”
From Exergy-Based and Economic Evaluation of Liquefaction Processes for Cryogenics Energy Storage (2019) · cites this paper as [6]
The specific investment costs of the total CES system is approximated from 500-3,000 €/kW in literature.
“The specific investment costs of the total CES system is approximated from 500-3,000 €/kW [6,7,36] in literature.”
From Exergy-Based and Economic Evaluation of Liquefaction Processes for Cryogenics Energy Storage (2019) · cites this paper as [6]
Cited by
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She, X., Peng, X., Nie, B., Leng, G., Zhang, X., Weng, L., Tong, L., Zheng, L., Wang, L., & Ding, Y. (2017) · Applied Energy · doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.09.102 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
Recent Trends on Liquid Air Energy Storage: A Bibliometric Analysis
Borri, E., Tafone, A., Zsembinszki, G., Comodi, G., Romagnoli, A., & Cabeza, L. F. (2020) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app10082773 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Exergy-Based and Economic Evaluation of Liquefaction Processes for Cryogenics Energy Storage
Hamdy, S., Moser, F., Morosuk, T., & Tsatsaronis, G. (2019) · Energies · doi:10.3390/en12030493 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
“CES specific investment €/kWdis 939 92 911 500–3000 [6,7,36] CES round-trip efficiency % 46.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialLiquid air energy storage – from theory to demonstration
Morgan, R. E. (2016) · International Journal of Environmental Studies · doi:10.1080/00207233.2016.1189741 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Morgan, R., Nelmes, S., Gibson, E., & Brett, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Brighton (GB)
- Highview Power Storage (United Kingdom) (GB)
- ORCID
- Morgan, Robert
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Energy
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2015-05
- Volume
- 168
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 135-144
- ISSN
- 1751-4223 (ISSN-L)
- 1751-4231
- OpenAlex
- W2001356071
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 3.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Energy (publishedVersion)
- University of Brighton Repository (University of Brighton) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Thermodynamic and Exergetic Analyses of Power and Cooling Systems
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Energy Engineering and Power Technology › Power Systems and Renewable Energy
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Integrated Energy Systems Optimization
- Keywords
- liquid air energy storage, cryogenic energy storage, Rankine cycle, intermittent renewable generation, grid support, duty cycle, levelized cost of electricity
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