Economic evaluation of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) vessels for compressed air energy storage

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) is a promising solution for grid balancing and renewable energy integration, significantly limiting applicability due to geological constraints of underground salt caverns. Glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) vessels offer a viable alternative owing to their excellent fatigue resistance, corrosion tolerance, and abundant raw material availability. In this study, the finite element structural model of helically wound GFRP pipe was developed based on mechanical test, and the optimized fiber ply configuration was applied to improve load-bearing capacity by about 2.5 times. The life cycle cost (LCC) model was then established, incorporating market-derived pricing data. Results indicate that the design upper pressure limit (Pupper) is the most influential factor affecting investment cost (CI-life). The CI-life decreases nonlinearly with increasing diameter, favoring large-diameter pipe. Specifically, the CI-life of D600mm is 5760 CNY/m3 with the Pupper of 25 MPa and the design lifespan (Life) of 50 years. Dynamic performance under typical operating conditions was further assessed using experimental data and numerical simulations. The time-dependent model, based on polytropic process, was constructed to describe the gas pressure and temperature evolution. This enabled detailed analysis of energy storage and release and the development of the life cycle income (LCI) estimation model. As the Pupper is 25 MPa and the Life is 50 years, the operational income (IO-life) of D200mm, D400mm, and D600mm reach 19.79 × 104, 18.44 × 104, and 17.50 × 104 CNY/m3. Finally, the economic viability (Elife) evaluated by integrating CI-life and IO-life, confirm that smaller-diameter pipe offers superior economic performance.