US 11,927,131 B1
Energy storage under desert environments
Ghaida Ahmed Al-Juhani, Dammam (SA); Faisal Mostafa, Dhahran (SA); Khadijah Alshadly, Dhahran (SA); Louai Altorkestani, Ras Tanura (SA); and Mohammed Al-Khawajah, Al Ahsa (SA)
Assigned to SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Jan. 18, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/156,019.
Int. Cl. F02C 6/16 (2006.01); F02C 1/04 (2006.01); F17C 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC F02C 6/16 (2013.01) [F02C 1/04 (2013.01); F17C 1/007 (2013.01); F17C 2203/0685 (2013.01); F17C 2221/013 (2013.01); F17C 2223/0123 (2013.01); F17C 2227/0157 (2013.01); F17C 2227/0302 (2013.01); F17C 2227/0341 (2013.01); F17C 2270/016 (2013.01); F17C 2270/0581 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for subterranean energy storage, the system comprising:
a subterranean flexible storage vessel coupled to a heat exchanger, wherein the heat exchanger is configured to supply a cooled compressed gas stream to the subterranean flexible storage vessel, wherein the subterranean flexible storage vessel is at least partially surrounded by sand;
a turbine generator coupled to the subterranean flexible storage vessel, wherein the subterranean flexible storage vessel is configured to supply a pressurized gas stream that is heated by the sand to the turbine generator; and
a second turbine generator coupled to an insulated storage vessel, wherein the insulated storage vessel supplies a heated coolant stream byproduct of the heat exchanger removing heat from a hot compressed gas stream to render the cooled compressed gas stream.