Pressure response of large-scale compressed air energy storage in porous formations

Large-scale compressed air energy storage (CAES) in porous formations can contribute to compensate the strong daily fluctuations in renewable energy production. This work presents a hypothetical CAES scenario using a representative geological anticlinal structure in Northern Germany and performs numerical simulations to estimate pressure response in the storage formation. The results show that the induced pressure changes laterally throughout the storage formation are due to initial fill of the air storage. Because of high air compressibility, the pressure fluctuations caused by daily cyclic operation can only be observed in the gas phase which reaches a distance of roughly 500 m.