The suitability of Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) as a source of peaking
plant capacity in South Africa is examined in this research report. The report
examines the current state of CAES technology including examples of
operational and planned facilities. It further evaluates the potential challenges
and benefits of the use of CAES in South Africa. A high level proposal for plant
design capacity is documented, and potential costs for construction thereof are
estimated. The cost of a CAES plant is compared to generating options using the
Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) method.
The study proposes that by 2018 additional peaking plant capacity will be
required and that a CAES plant able to provide additional capacity up to
3 500MW would help to alleviate the potential shortfall which may be experienced
at this time. The report further proposes conversion of underground mines for use
as air receivers for high pressure storage of large volumes of compressed air
required for CAES.
The research report concludes that CAES presents a feasible solution to the
potential future shortfall in peaking plant capacity in South Africa, and that site
identification and construction of a suitable storage cavern presents the main obstacle to the implementation of this technology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/14096 |
| Date | 11 March 2014 |
| Creators | Stanford, Mark Robert |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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