Abandoned reservoirs for fuel and carbon dioxide storage: an energy perspective from the Danish North Sea (invited)

Description

Production of conventional oil and gas from the North Sea is decreasing. At the same time, more wind farms are being installed in the North Sea. The future realization of “the energy island” will increase the capacity of offshore power production to 10 GW, twice the current average electricity demand in Denmark. The intermittent nature of this electricity, however, does not guarantee a continuous supply of power. The unpredictable fluctuation of renewable electricity above and below the consumer demand leaves the energy providers with two main options: storing the surplus electricity in large scales or covering the electricity deficit by zero-emission power plants equipped with carbon capture and storage. The current state of the art suggests that large-scale energy storage is only possible by the conversion of electricity to a chemical or physical form and storing it in a suitable vessel such as a salt cavern or an abandoned gas reservoir. It is also possible to store the captured carbon dioxide from the power plants (and other industrial point sources) in the vast and safe space of the abandoned reservoirs. These solutions also increase the lifetime of the existing facilities and save the incredibly high cost of abandonment. In this talk, we will have a closer look at the current state of technology and the energy balance of the conversion of the surplus renewable electricity to different fuels (power2x) and storing them in the North Sea fields. We will also investigate the reproduction of the stored fuel and address the most important question: can the subsurface energy storage address the intermittency of renewable electricity efficiently and effectively? We will also touch upon the effectiveness of carbon dioxide capture and storage.

Period	2 Aug 2021 → 3 Aug 2021
Event title	4th Brazil InterPore Conference
Event type	Conference
Conference number	4
Location	Rio, BrazilShow on map