Modeling of a compressed air energy storage connected to a PV field for NZEB in tropics

Producing electricity for houses or buildings often provided by mean of photovoltaic panels is relatively tricky especially because of the stochastic character of the solar radiation and of the storage influence. There exist some solutions and among them, the one consisting in converting electricity in high-pressure compressed air seems promising. Due to a refurbishing project of teaching classes at Reunion University (a French island situated in the Indian Ocean, at the east of Madagascar), this option is under investigation in parallel to reducing consumption in the building. The aim in terms of consumption is 25 kWh(PE).m(-2).year(-1) leading, if possible to a NetZEB (Zero Energy Building). So, it has been envisaged to produce the electricity by mean of PV panels, to consume the major part and to store the extra production in order to be used at night and during lower shinning periods. The solution that has been investigated consists in compressing air in high pressure storage tanks (from a few tens to two hundred bar) and to produce electricity later thanks to a turbine. Nevertheless, the system remains electrically connected to the external network if extra electricity is required by the building and while the turbine is under operation or if too much electricity is produced and not being able to be stored instantaneously. A dynamic numerical model has been built, considering a specific given load profile and local climatic data in order to estimate the production. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.