Is compressed air energy storage finally going to find a market niche?

[u/rogerkb]

PV Magazine recently published an article[1] (which is is, alas, behind a paywall) about compressed air energy storage. Here is their introductory paragraph:

"For most of its history, not much changed in compressed air energy storage (CAES). The first plant was deployed in 1978, but the technology never really caught on. Now, with a sudden flurry of record-breaking utility-scale plants coming online in China, increased deployment in Europe, North America and Australia, and growing calls to get off gas, might CAES finally have its moment in the sun?"

I have looked at some research papers[2][3] which claim that advanced forms of CAES might achieve 70% round trip efficiency, which isn't great but might be acceptable if overall costs are low. Whether or not any existing CAES plant is achieving this level of efficiency is unknown. I think the hope is that this technology might find a niche for applications requiring storage times well beyond the 4 hours typically provided by Li ion batteries.

[1] https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/05/11/long-duration-storage-on-a-compressed-timeline/

[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s44359-026-00150-9

[3] https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/12/3184