Patent ID: 8347629

Claim:
A compressed air energy storage (CAES) system comprising: an ambient air intake configured to intake a quantity of ambient air for storage in a compressed air storage volume; a compression system coupled to the ambient air intake and configured to compress the quantity of ambient air to a quantity of compressed air, the compression system comprising: a first compressor configured to compress the quantity of ambient air; a second compressor configured to further compress the quantity of ambient air; and a compression path between the first compressor and the second compressor configured to convey the quantity of compressed air through the compression system; a first path proceeding from the ambient air intake to the compression system and configured to convey the quantity of ambient air to the compression system; a second path proceeding from the compression system to the compressed air storage volume and configured to convey the quantity of compressed air to the compressed air storage volume; wherein the CAES system is an adiabatic CAES system and further comprises a thermal energy storage (TES) system along the second path between the compression system and the compressed air storage volume, the thermal energy storage system configured to remove and store a quantity of heat from the quantity of compressed air; a dehumidifying system coupled to the compression path, the dehumidifying system comprising a dehumidifying component positioned upstream from the compression system and configured to remove a quantity of moisture from the quantity of compressed air; wherein the dehumidifying system removes the quantity of moisture from the quantity of compressed air prior to the quantity of compressed air reaching the TES system and wherein the dehumidifying system further comprises a heating system configured to remove moisture from the dehumidifying component.