Assessment of Market Potential of Compressed Air Energy Storage Systems

An assessment of the potential market for compressed air energy storage (CAES) systems in the United States is developed based on projections of CAES installations in areas of the country where CAES sales are most likely to occur before the year 2000. These projections are made using the utility storage commercialization model developed for the Electric Power Research Institute. Because the market potential for CAES depends critically on CAES's performance and economics relative to competitive technologies, the model is used to project installations of other central-station storage technologies as well. Extensive sensitivity analyses are conducted to determine the variables having the largest impact on the potential market for CAES. The market projections indicate that if the utility operating environment improves, there will be a significant market potential for CAES systems.