prgePERNDGProgress in EnergyPRGEProg. Energy2516-1083IOP Publishingprgeabdbba10.1088/2516-1083/abdbbaabdbbaPRGE-100033Topical ReviewProgress and prospects of thermo-mechanical energy storage—a critical review0000-0002-5795-0408OlympiosAndreas V10000-0003-3736-2788McTigueJoshua D20000-0002-2263-2629Farres-AntunezPau30000-0002-6543-5297TafoneAlessio40000-0003-1271-5479RomagnoliAlessandro450000-0001-6231-015XLiYongliang60000-0001-8490-5349DingYulong6SteinmannWolf-Dieter7WangLiang8ChenHaisheng80000-0002-4219-1867MarkidesChristos N1c.markides@imperial.ac.uk * Clean Energy Processes (CEP) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, United States of America Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, United Kingdom Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N), Nanyang Technological University, 1 Cleantech Loop 637141, Singapore School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue 639798, Singapore Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage & School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, Stuttgart 70569, Germany Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China

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4202112320211232021320220011720201412021172020© 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd2021 Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.Abstract

The share of electricity generated by intermittent renewable energy sources is increasing (now at 26% of global electricity generation) and the requirements of affordable, reliable and secure energy supply designate grid-scale storage as an imperative component of most energy transition pathways. The most widely deployed bulk energy storage solution is pumped-hydro energy storage (PHES), however, this technology is geographically constrained. Alternatively, flow batteries are location independent and have higher energy densities than PHES, but remain associated with high costs and short lifetimes, which highlights the importance of developing and utilizing additional larger-scale, longer-duration and long-lifetime energy storage alternatives. In this paper, we review a class of promising bulk energy storage technologies based on thermo-mechanical principles, which includes: compressed-air energy storage, liquid-air energy storage and pumped-thermal electricity storage. The thermodynamic principles upon which these thermo-mechanical energy storage (TMES) technologies are based are discussed and a synopsis of recent progress in their development is presented, assessing their ability to provide reliable and cost-effective solutions. The current performance and future prospects of TMES systems are examined within a unified framework and a thermo-economic analysis is conducted to explore their competitiveness relative to each other as well as when compared to PHES and battery systems. This includes carefully selected thermodynamic and economic methodologies for estimating the component costs of each configuration in order to provide a detailed and fair comparison at various system sizes. The analysis reveals that the technical and economic characteristics of TMES systems are such that, especially at higher discharge power ratings and longer discharge durations, they can offer promising performance (round-trip efficiencies higher than 60%) along with long lifetimes (>30 years), low specific costs (often below 100 $ kWh−1), low ecological footprints and unique sector-coupling features compared to other storage options. TMES systems have significant potential for further progress and the thermo-economic comparisons in this paper can be used as a benchmark for their future evolution.

thermo-mechanical energy storage (TMES)compressed-air energy storage (CAES)pumped-thermal electricity storage (PTES)liquid-air energy storage (LAES)Natural Environment Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000270 NE/L002515/1US Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies OfficeDE-AC36-08GO28308Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000266 EP/P004709/1EP/R045518/1EP/S032622/1ccc2516-1083/21/022001+44$33.00printedPrinted in the UKcrossmarkyes