Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy New parametric performance maps for a novel sizing and selection methodology of a Liquid Air Energy Storage system Alessio Tafone a , Alessandro Romagnoli a,c , Emiliano Borri b , Gabriele Comodi b a Energy Research Institute @ NTU, 1 Cleantech Loop, 637141, Singapore b Università Politecnica delle Marche, Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Italy c School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore HIGHLIGHTS • Comprehensive and systematic ana- lysis of LAES is carried out. • Definition of LAES Performance maps for solving design (sizing) problem. • The combined effect of main operative parameters is included in each map. • High round trip efficiency could be achieved by internal re-use of waste cold flow. • Maps can serve as guidelines for LAES design under significant variation of the operative parameters. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Electrical storage Liquid Air Energy Storage Performance maps Graphical tool Thermal Energy Storages ABSTRACT Liquid Air Energy Storage is one of the most promising novel energy storage concept that guarantees at the same time viable capital cost, high energy density and no geographical/geological constrains. Considering the com- plexity of the plant, composed by three different phases (charge, discharge and storage), thermodynamic modelling could be a challenging undertaking. Making use of the strong similitude with gas turbine technology, this paper aims to deliver new generalized performance maps for Liquid Air Energy Storage system. The per- formance maps, validated against the experimental results of Highview Power pilot plant, have been modelled by means of a comprehensive sensitivity analysis carried out considering three macro-scenarios imposing the storage pressures and the turbomachinery performance (design/off-design conditions). By means of the per- formance maps, the impact of the main LAES operative parameters, as well as the effect of the cold/warm thermal energy storage utilization factor, over the key performance indicators has been assessed and analysed. The analysis shows that at design condition the higher is the value of the high grade cold thermal energy storage utilization factor, the lower is the positive impact of charge pressure over the specific consumption. For off- design condition of the main turbomachinery, the negative effect of lower isentropic efficiency of the main turbomachinery on the round trip efficiency is amplified by the choice of the charge pressure. At high value of the warm energy storage utilization factor, this negative effect can be partially offset by the higher Turbine Inlet Temperature available for the expansion process of the discharge phase. 1. Introduction Nowadays, renewable energy systems are key actors in solving the environmental challenge posed by traditional fossil fuel depletion and the consequent global warming. The use of renewable energy technologies has increased significantly during the early 2000s and according to [1], due to the mix of supporting policies and rapid falling costs (-70% for solar PV and -25% for wind), in 2017 the share of renewable power in global power generation achieved nearly 8.4%, almost doubling the value of 2012 (4.6%). Such a rapid development https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.04.171 Received 5 December 2018; Received in revised form 17 April 2019; Accepted 29 April 2019 Applied Energy 250 (2019) 1641–1656 0306-2619/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T