The first and second law analysis of a grid connected photovoltaic plant equipped with a compressed air energy storage unit

摘要

PV (Photovoltaic) plants are widely used to produce power in either large or small scales all around the world. In addition, CAES (compressed air energy storage) system has attracted considerable attention as one of the most efficient candidates for large scales energy storage applications in the recent years. In this work, detailed energy and exergy analysis of a 100 MWp (megawatt peak) grid connected PV plant equipped with a CAES system is carried out. The PV plant is assumed to be located in Brazil. The formulations related to the first and the second laws of thermodynamic for all components as well as detailed solar engineering formulations for both the PV farm and the solar heating unit are presented. The performance of the power plant is comprehensively investigated for one entire year in real circumstances. The results revealed that the energy and exergy efficiencies of the CAES system are very close and vary from 35% up to 65% during the year. Also, the annual average exergy and energy efficiencies of the power plant are calculated to be 17.9% and 16.2%, respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.