Compressed-air energy storage: Pittsfield aquifer field test

This report documents the results of a comprehensive investigation into the practical feasibility for Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) in Porous Media. Natural gas porous media storage technology developed from seventy years of experience by the natural gas storage industry is applied to the investigation of CAES in porous media. A major objective of this investigation is the geologic characterization, deliverability prediction, and operations analysis of the Pittsfield CAES aquifer experiment, conducted in Pike County, Illinois during 1981--85 under EPRI/DOE sponsorship. Emphasis has been placed on applying accepted petroleum engineering concepts to the study of deliverability and on the characterization and quantification of oxygen losses which reportedly occurred at Pittsfield. Other objectives are to apply the natural gas underground storage technology and approach to a general study of CAES feasibility in porous media reservoirs, with emphasis on the practical risks and constraints of air storage in aquifer and depleted natural gas reservoirs, the effects of water on CAES operation, corrosion effects, and a review of air dehydration options.