It is highly unlikely that the demand for energy will ever decrease. The way the population around the globe is increasing, the energy requirement will only increase. However, the conventional ways of generating energy are now unable to fulfil this rapidly growing need for power. In addition to this, the excessive utilization of non-renewable resources has resulted in global warming. The International Energy Association has estimated that for keeping global warming below 2 degree Celsius, about 266 GW of energy is required to be stored by 2030, globally, rising from 176.5 GW in 2017.
It is due to these factors that the demand for alternative ways of generating and storing clean energy is increasing day by day, which, in turn, is resulting in the growth of the compressed air energy storage market. The dependence on renewable sources for generating energy is rising across the globe. Different form of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, are largely dependent on energy storage systems, owing to which, the need for adopting different types of storage systems is rising as well. One of such systems is the compressed air energy storage, which is based on gas turbine cycle.
Excessive power is utilized for compressing air by making use of a rotary compressor, which is then stores in an underground chamber. In case power is needed, the compressed air is released from the chamber and is passed through an air turbine, which produces electricity from the flowing high-pressure air. Different types of compressed air energy storage are diabatic, adiabatic, and isothermal. Out of all these, the demand for diabatic type is predicted to increase considerably in the years to come. This is majorly ascribed to the simple design and lower operating cost of this type, as compared to isothermal and adiabatic compressed air energy storage systems.
In addition to this, isothermal and adiabatic compressed air energy storage systems are still in the developmental phase, which is why, the industry is dominated by diabatic compressed air energy storage systems. When geography is taken into consideration, North America is predicted to emerge as a major compressed air energy storage market in the near future, which is primarily due to the surging requirement for electricity storage systems in the region. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the U.S. produced 4 billion megawatt-hours of electricity, however only 431 megawatt-hours of power was stored in 2017.
In conclusion, the demand for compressed air energy storage systems is growing due to the surging population, increased consumption of fossil fuels, rapid degradation of the environment, and rising dependence on alternative resources for generating energy.
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