Recently, China has made a major breakthrough in the research and development of compressed air energy storage technology. The world's first and largest single-unit power compressed air energy storage compressor, developed by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in conjunction with China Storage Energy (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., has passed the third-party test with CNAS qualification. The test results show that the compressor has a maximum discharge pressure of 10.1MPa, a maximum power of 101MW, a variable working condition range of 38.7%-118.4%, and an efficiency of 88.1% under the maximum discharge pressure, reaching the international leading level.
The compressor is one of the most important core components of a compressed air energy storage system. Its main function is to compress atmospheric air into a high-pressure state during energy storage and store it in a gas storage device, realizing the process of converting electrical energy into the pressure energy and thermal energy of air. Through independent innovation, the research institute has overcome key technical problems such as overall design and optimization, full three-dimensional flow optimization, structural design of long-rotor complex shafting, and efficient variable working condition control, and successfully developed the world's first compressed air energy storage compressor with a single-unit power exceeding 100MW, which has completely independent intellectual property rights. Compared with existing compressed air energy storage compressors, its single-unit power has increased by more than 100%, the unit cost has been significantly reduced, and it also has the advantages of high efficiency, high pressure, and a wide operating range.
The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been the earliest in China to carry out research on compressed air energy storage technology since 2005. After more than 20 years of efforts, it has originally proposed a new principle of advanced compressed air energy storage, and broken through key technologies such as system full-condition design, wide-load compressors, high-efficiency compact heat exchangers, and high-load expanders. It has established a complete R&D and design system for compressed air energy storage covering "system design - key components - integrated control". It has taken the lead in building 1.5MW-10MW-100MW-300MW advanced compressed air energy storage national demonstration projects. The successful development of this compressed air energy storage compressor is an important milestone in the field of global compressed air energy storage technology and will push the compressed air energy storage technology to a new level.
The above related work has been supported by projects such as the Strategic Priority Research Program (Category A) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Key Research and Development Program, and the Youth Science Fund Project (Category A) of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Next step, China Storage Energy will actively promote the application of this compressor, and continue to enhance its capabilities in technological innovation, manufacturing, and engineering implementation to achieve the transformation and promotion of more major scientific and technological equipment achievements. With high-end equipment R&D results featuring higher efficiency, better performance, and lower costs, it will drive high-quality industrial development and empower the country's energy transition and the sustainable development of regional economies.
