Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind Farms

Long-duration energy storage systems are becoming a vital means for decarbonizing the global economy. However, with floating wind farms being commissioned farther offshore, the need to co-locate energy storage with the energy harnessing units is becoming more essential. This paper presents a transie...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Charise Cutajar, Tonio Sant, Luke Aquilina, Daniel Buhagiar, Daniel Baldacchino
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/24/6405
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850036507223523328
author Charise Cutajar
Tonio Sant
Luke Aquilina
Daniel Buhagiar
Daniel Baldacchino
author_facet Charise Cutajar
Tonio Sant
Luke Aquilina
Daniel Buhagiar
Daniel Baldacchino
author_sort Charise Cutajar
collection DOAJ
description Long-duration energy storage systems are becoming a vital means for decarbonizing the global economy. However, with floating wind farms being commissioned farther offshore, the need to co-locate energy storage with the energy harnessing units is becoming more essential. This paper presents a transient thermal analysis of the charging process of a subsea open-cycle hydro-pneumatic energy storage system. The proposed system is designed for integration with floating wind turbines in deep water sites. Situating the system subsea presents unique opportunities for integration with offshore wind plants through the exploitation of well-known subsea pipeline technology and the surrounding seawater environment, which acts as a natural heat sink/source. The results obtained from numerical modeling in Python© Version 3.7.4 present the variation in various operating parameters with time. The outcomes reveal that the proposed system is able to achieve a work ratio and an energy storage capacity ratio of up to 0.80 and 0.95, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed open-cycle system is predicted to boost the energy storage density by a factor ranging between 2.00 and 8.10 when compared to the energy storage density of conventional closed-cycle units. Namely, the energy storage density of the long-duration energy storage can reach up to 16.20 kWh/m<sup>3</sup> when operated in an open-cycle configuration.
format Article
id doaj-art-d72e0b11dd3740d99ec727c4bc41560d
institution DOAJ
issn 1996-1073
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Energies
spelling doaj-art-d72e0b11dd3740d99ec727c4bc41560d2025-08-20T02:57:07ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732024-12-011724640510.3390/en17246405Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind FarmsCharise Cutajar0Tonio Sant1Luke Aquilina2Daniel Buhagiar3Daniel Baldacchino4Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malta, 2080 Msida, MaltaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malta, 2080 Msida, MaltaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malta, 2080 Msida, MaltaFLASC B.V., Paardenmarkt 1, 2611 PA Delft, The NetherlandsFLASC B.V., Paardenmarkt 1, 2611 PA Delft, The NetherlandsLong-duration energy storage systems are becoming a vital means for decarbonizing the global economy. However, with floating wind farms being commissioned farther offshore, the need to co-locate energy storage with the energy harnessing units is becoming more essential. This paper presents a transient thermal analysis of the charging process of a subsea open-cycle hydro-pneumatic energy storage system. The proposed system is designed for integration with floating wind turbines in deep water sites. Situating the system subsea presents unique opportunities for integration with offshore wind plants through the exploitation of well-known subsea pipeline technology and the surrounding seawater environment, which acts as a natural heat sink/source. The results obtained from numerical modeling in Python© Version 3.7.4 present the variation in various operating parameters with time. The outcomes reveal that the proposed system is able to achieve a work ratio and an energy storage capacity ratio of up to 0.80 and 0.95, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed open-cycle system is predicted to boost the energy storage density by a factor ranging between 2.00 and 8.10 when compared to the energy storage density of conventional closed-cycle units. Namely, the energy storage density of the long-duration energy storage can reach up to 16.20 kWh/m<sup>3</sup> when operated in an open-cycle configuration.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/24/6405subsealong durationenergy storageliquid pistonair compression
spellingShingle Charise Cutajar
Tonio Sant
Luke Aquilina
Daniel Buhagiar
Daniel Baldacchino
Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind Farms
Energies
subsea
long duration
energy storage
liquid piston
air compression
title Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind Farms
title_full Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind Farms
title_fullStr Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind Farms
title_full_unstemmed Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind Farms
title_short Subsea Long-Duration Energy Storage for Integration with Offshore Wind Farms
title_sort subsea long duration energy storage for integration with offshore wind farms
topic subsea
long duration
energy storage
liquid piston
air compression
url https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/24/6405
work_keys_str_mv AT charisecutajar subsealongdurationenergystorageforintegrationwithoffshorewindfarms
AT toniosant subsealongdurationenergystorageforintegrationwithoffshorewindfarms
AT lukeaquilina subsealongdurationenergystorageforintegrationwithoffshorewindfarms
AT danielbuhagiar subsealongdurationenergystorageforintegrationwithoffshorewindfarms
AT danielbaldacchino subsealongdurationenergystorageforintegrationwithoffshorewindfarms