110MW Compressed Air Storage plant in Alabama

Second commercially owned in the world. World's first CAES plant is a 290 MW
facility located in Huntdorf, Germany. First CAES plant in the United States. First in
the world to use fuel-efficient recuperator, which reduces fuel consumption by 25
percent. One full charge from the 110 MW CAES plant provides enough electricity to
supply the demands of 11,000 homes for 26 hours. Off-peak electricity is used to
compress air in the cavern. Cavern:

Top of solution-mined salt cavern is 1,500 feet underground. Bottom of cavern is 2,500
feet underground. 10-million-cubic-foot air storage cavern is 220 feet in diameter and
1,000 feet tall. At full charge, air pressure is 1,100 pounds per square inch. At full
discharge, cavern air pressure is 650 pounds per square inch. The cavern walls do not
move as the pressure changes inside. The cavern walls have a strength of 50 times that
of the maximum air pressure produced by the CAES plant. Capacity: Compressed air flows
through the CAES plant generator at a rate of 340 pounds of air per second, which is as
fast as a wide-body jet engine.

The fuel consumption during generation is equal to 4,600 Btu (HHV) per kilowatt-hour
(kWh) of electricity. There are about 20,750 Btu in each gallon of gasoline. The
electricity consumed during compression is 0.82 kWh of peak load generation.
Construction: Harbert International, Birmingham, Alabama Plant construction time:
approximately 2 years, 9 months Engineer: Gibbs & Hill, New York, NY. Machinery and
equipment made by Dresser-Rand, Wellsville, NY (includes expanders, compressors,
motor-generator, control system, clutches, gears).



.

Quantcast