Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE)

Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) uses the discharge through a turbine of air that has been liquefied to store and release energy. LAES has the potential to benefit Reclamation due to two outcomes of LAES operation: arbitrage on the power market offers the potential for profitable power operations, and the “waste cold” generated by the expansion of liquid air could allow for chilling of reservoir storage or releases. A feasibility analysis was conducted to determine potential benefits to Reclamation. Shasta Dam in Northern California was selected as the site for analysis due to its importance in both the Western power grid and as a temperature regulating facility for the upper Sacramento River habitat. After sizing a simulated plant through a literature review, a power and water temperature modeling effort was undertaken. Results indicate some potential for profitable power operations, but the temperature benefits accruing from operation of the plant at this scale were not sufficiently large to have a meaningful operational impact. A potential future scenario with currently unrealistically efficient operations did not offer major temperature improvements. This analysis finds that water temperature benefits are limited in scope for both a current technology and a potential future LAES plant.