Recently, according to public information,The world's largest liquid air energy storage demonstration project, located in the East Exit Photovoltaic Park of Golmud City, Haixi Prefecture, is scheduled to be connected to the grid for power generation this year
The liquid air energy storage project is located in the East Exit Photovoltaic Park of Golmud City, Haixi Prefecture, with a total scale of 60MW and 600MWh, equipped with 1 photovoltaic 250MW and 110 kV booster station, which will start construction on July 1, 2023, and is planned to be connected to the grid for power generation in 2024. After the project is completed and put into operation, it will become the world's largest power generation power in the field of liquid air energy storage.
1. The world's largest demonstration project in terms of energy storage scale.
In July 2023, the 60MW 600MWh liquid air energy storage demonstration project in Golmud City, Qinghai Province, will become the world's largest power generation power in the field of liquid air energy storage after the project is completed and put into operation.
1. The world's largest demonstration project of energy storage has filled the gap in large-scale long-term energy storage technology, provided strong support for Qinghai Province to build a national clean energy industry highland, and created a broader development space for the development of China's energy storage industry.
In January this year, the project was selected as a new energy storage pilot demonstration project of the National Energy Administration, the project adopts the cryogenic cascade cold storage technology with independent intellectual property rights, and has obtained more than 100 invention patents after continuous technology research and development, and successfully broke through the equipment constraints of large-scale scale-up of air energy storage systems from 100 kilowatts to 10,000 kilowatts.
At the same time, as an important technology and basic equipment to support the new power system, the project has the advantages of large capacity, long time, long life, low cost, and not limited by geographical conditions.
Compared with traditional energy storage technology, it has a smaller footprint, larger energy storage density, and more flexible and diversified application scenarios, especially in the fields of renewable energy consumption, power grid peak shaving, backup black start, supporting distributed power microgrids, and comprehensive energy services, which is of great significance for promoting green energy transformation, ensuring energy security, promoting high-quality energy development, and achieving climate change goals.
Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) is derived from Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) technology, both of which use air as the main energy storage material. Liquid air energy storage uses the process of "compression-expansion" of air to complete the conversion of "electricity-heat" and "pressure-energy-electricity". Unlike compressed air energy storage, the compressed gas of liquid air energy storage does not enter the gas storage chamber, but enters the liquefaction unit, so that the gaseous air becomes liquid air for storage.
Schematic diagram of liquid compressed air energy storage technology
Source: ESPLAZA liquid air energy storage has an energy storage density of 10-40 times that of compressed air energy storage, which can store more energy in smaller containers. The construction of traditional compressed air energy storage requires large-capacity storage space such as caves and salt mines, while liquid air energy storage is free from the constraints of geographical conditions, and does not need to use a large number of high-pressure vessels, making site selection more flexible.
Liquid air energy storage technology has the advantages of large capacity, high energy density, long life, low cost, and is not limited by geographical conditions. In addition, the system generates a large amount of cold and heat energy during operation, which can realize multi-energy complementarity and multi-energy synergistic supply. It is suitable for multi-field application scenarios such as renewable energy consumption, power grid peak shaving, backup black start, distributed power microgrid, and integrated energy services.
Source: China Lufa liquid air energy storage is not only used as a large-scale medium and long-term energy storage on the power supply side and the grid side, but also for combined cooling, heating and power generation. In industrial and commercial scenarios such as steel plants and chemical plants, liquid air energy storage is also an ideal and efficient energy utilization solution. The efficiency of the large-scale liquid air energy storage system is about 60%, and if it is a combined cooling, heating and power generation, its efficiency can reach 75%-85%.
The key equipment of liquid air energy storage, such as compressors, cryogenic expanders, liquid pumps, expansion generators and other domestic equipment, has been relatively mature, and the industrial chain is mature. The cost of the first (set) project is expected to be high, and it will decline after large-scale promotion and application, in addition to system integration, different application scenarios and other factors, there is also a certain space for cost reduction. On the whole, the LCOE of liquid air energy storage is in the same range as compressed air and pumped storage. With the increase of the capacity of the energy storage system, the cost will tend to decrease, and when the power of the energy storage system reaches 100MW in 8 hours, the unit cost can be reduced by 46% compared with 10MW**.
The new power system presents diversified requirements for energy storage power, duration, response time, etc., and it is the general trend to incorporate various energy storage technology routes.
From the perspective of technical route positioning, liquid air energy storage and pumped storage, compressed air energy storage, flow batteries and other positioning medium and long-term energy storage, storage time in a few hours to several months, with medium and high power, medium and high capacity and medium response speed and other characteristics, the typical operation scenario is one charge and one discharge per day.
The medium and long-term development direction of new energy storage is still to coordinate the operation of multiple technologies and power systems, give full play to the advantages of power storage, heat storage, gas storage, cold storage and hydrogen storage, realize the organic combination and optimal operation of various energy storage technologies, and focus on solving the problem of cross-seasonal balance adjustment caused by the seasonal mismatch between new energy output and power load in the medium and long term. With the increasing demand for medium and long-term energy storage in the power system, liquid air energy storage has ushered in a broad application prospect due to its advantages of large-scale, long life, low cost, and flexible site selection.
*: Energy & Power Says Network Collation.