Comprehensive performance investigation of a novel solar-assisted liquid air energy storage system with different operating modes in different seasons

Recently, many researchers have put a spotlight on solar-assisted liquid air energy storage (LAES) system for its cleanliness and large storage capacity. However, the energy efficiencies of such systems are relatively low, resulting in poor economic performance. In addition, very few studies are conducted on the performance of such systems with multi-generation output. Thus, a novel solar-assisted LAES system with different operating modes (LAES-S-D) in different seasons is proposed, which fully utilizes the solar heat and air compression heat to supply cooling/heating/power/domestic hot water in different seasons to meet the energy requirements of users in different seasons. The waste heat recovery/utilization potential of the system is analyzed from the perspective of the energy cascade utilization. Energy, exergy, techno-economic and exergoenvironmental performances are deeply investigated. In contrast with the reference system, the energy efficiency is improved from 0.5101 to 0.5561 (transition seasons), 0.7849 (summer) and 0.8674 (winter), respectively. The net present value is improved by 324.63 million $, the levelized cost of energy is reduced by 0.0774 $/kWh and the dynamic payback time is decreased by 4.87 years.