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• An improved operation strategy for decentralized A-CAES is proposed. • TES behavior and its effects on A-CAES performance are analyzed. • Characteristics and capacity limitations of HES's components are considered. • A parametric study showed an optimum value for the system's design parameters. • Improved operation strategy reduced the ramp-up /down rate by around 4% /11%. Adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) has shown great application potentials in integrated hybrid energy systems (HES) in recent years. The integration requires A-CAES to store intermittent renewables power to meet the fluctuating load demand. Therefore, the operation of compressors and turbines must be adjusted by renewable power output and load demand, respectively. This paper presents an improved energy management operation strategy (I-EMOS) to enhance the A-CAES system's utilization for decentralized applications. In doing so, besides integrating thermal energy storage (TES) unit into CAES, several limitations of an A-CAES unit, such as its conversion process mode, dynamic characteristics, power input/output constraints of compressor/turbine train, air pressure constraint, and thermal storage capacity limitations are considered. An HES consisting of PV, A-CAES, and grid to answer the building's electric demand is simulated. The results are validated against data from an existing A-CAES pilot. It is concluded that adopting features and capacity limitations of the A-CAES system's power conversion unit in operational strategies contributes to improved management of energy flow in HES. It is observed that for certain air tank volume and maximum/minimum pressures under I-EMOS, an enhanced performance can be achieved. This analysis presents a feasibility assessment approach for decentralized A-CAES integrated with renewables implemented and tested in a real-world case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to demonstrate the improvement of power dispatchability that can be achieved with a suitable integration of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) plants to mitigate the effects of the variability and intermittency of solar energy. In particular, the CSP–CPV plant analyzed here refers to the design data of the Ottana Solar Facility, which is currently under construction in the industrial district of Ottana (Sardinia, Italy). Since it is very difficult to know the power curves that are going to be required during the operation phases of the hybrid CSP–CPV plant, the present study has been carried out by assuming a reference daily power output curve, which is simply represented by a constant power output. Moreover, two different energy management strategies, fully integrated (F-INT) and partially integrated (P-INT), are analyzed and compared. The results of this study show the advantages of using an integrated management strategy to satisfy a constant power output curve. Optimization of the CSP and CPV power share leads to an effective use of the dispatch capabilities of the CSP plant owing to the TES section, while the CPV plant is fully exploited, especially during the hours of high solar radiation. Comparison of the results achieved with the F-INT and P-INT control strategies demonstrates that the F-INT one leads to better performance both in terms of annual energy production and hours of potential time duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]