Oilwell Conversion (Well API 121913310501) to Geothermal Heat Storage Well for Flexible Electricity Storage

Description

Geothermal growth is limited by a lack of geographically dispersed high-temperature thermal resources and high initial upfront investment in characterization and well construction. This project intended to address the challenges of energy supply intermittency and enhance grid resilience, reliability, and energy security by storing energy provided from currently available renewable resources in the subsurface to harvest it a later time during at-peak energy demand. This project intended to improve geothermal adoption, reduce initial project risk, and improve price competitiveness through utilizing existing oil and gas infrastructure such as non-productive wells, non-economic fields, dry holes, and orphaned wells. The project also intended to address the lack of geographically dispersed thermal resources and enhance grid resilience, reliability, and energy security by introducing an economical method for storing energy from currently available renewable resources in the subsurface for usage during at-peak energy demand. During this research, the project furthered the understanding of the feasibility of utilizing abandoned oil and gas wells as geothermal heat storage wells. The project team investigated the heat storage and hydrogeological characteristics of subsurface reservoirs in the Illinois Basin to evaluate their response to heat injection for determining the evolution of temperature profiles and heat losses over time using existing and available data sets. The project team then performed modeling and simulation to evaluate the heat losses of returning fluids during heat extraction. The outputs were used to select an optimal candidate reservoir and location in Southern Illinois. The team designed and performed a small-scale field test in an existing oil well to refine the model and to demonstrate the permitting and regulatory pathways necessary for the conversion of oil and gas assets to geothermal use. The field test also serves as a proof of concept and can guide the procedures for future research and implementation. Additionally, the project team, conducted initial market research and customer discovery to develop a go to market strategy for an Advanced Geothermal Energy Storage (AGES) system. The project team in this research also identified the parameters to be refined in future research, to improve the current go to market strategy economic model. To this end several subject matter experts were also identified to assist in future research with geothermal infrastructure setup, energy storage policy and law, energy storage market demand, potential siting based on demand etc. Future research will involve further sophistication of the site commercial modeling, implementing a larger-scale test, and further refinement of the thermodynamic modeling/simulation process. The output will be lifecycle costs and economics suitable for comparison to alternative approaches from a validated full-scale demonstration for venture capital investment into this technology. The project successfully demonstrated the ability to leverage existing oilfield infrastructure, permits, and land access and leasing agreements, to enable geothermal storage projects to come online faster and cheaper than a greenfield development could. This technology could allow for greater energy independence and security through long-term energy storage solutions. The longer duration allows for greater storage for renewables currently limited by hours-long storage durations of lithium-ion. The AGES system would support the growth of renewable energy farms, and provide greater opportunities for a cleaner energy infrastructure.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
26 Gamma ray log for well API 121913310501. The logs include Gamma Ray data taken on March 22, 2021 to help derive lithologies and other features in the well. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/1219133105_20210322_ME4_Gamma_Ray_Log.LAS
8 Gauge 90921 was used to measure downhole temperature and pressure at 3095.5 feet during the warm and cold water injection test and pressure falloff periods. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/1219133105_90921_20210401_20210506_Downhole_Data.csv
8 A Campbell datalogger was used to collect surface tubing pressure, temperature, flow rate, and cumulative volume during the warm and cold water injection test. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/1219133105_Campbell_20210405_20210505_Surface_Data.csv
8 The Dwyer gauge was used to measure casing pressure during the mechanical integrity test and pressure buildup after perforation. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/1219133105_P76398_20210322_20210323_Well_Test_Pressure.csv
57 A distributed Temperature Sensor (DTS) was installed in well 121913310501 from the surface to 3,091.5 ft (942.3 m) and collected data between 4/1/2021 and 5/5/2021. The data archive contains hourly DTS files measured from the DTS system to the bottom of the brehole in terms of the legnth of the fiber optic cable. The equation for borehole depth (ft) = (FOC_Length_m - 77.6 m)/0.3048 ft/m. Depths are relative to the KB. Negative depths are between the DTS datalogger and the wellhead. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/DTS_csv_hourly.zip
10 Final Project Report titled Feasibility of Storing Heat in the Subsurface for Flexible Electricity Generation. It describes the conversion of an oil well to a geothermal well, water injection test to estimate thermal reservoir properties, and modelling of heat injection and extraction using water as a working fluid. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/20220110_Phase1_Final_Technical_Report_Feasibility_Storing_Heat_Subsurface_Flexible_Electricity_Generation.docx
10 One page summary of the project final report titled 20220110 Phase 1 Final Technical Report Feasibility of Storing Heat in the Subsurface for Flexible Electricity Generation written by Nick Malkewicz of Projeo Corporation. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/One_Page_Summary_20220110_Phase1_Final_Technical_Report_Feasibility_Storing_Heat_Subsurface_Flexible_Electricity_Generation.docx
53 The file contains a summary of well data, some of the well test data, and modelling data generated by the four different heat injection and extraction scenarios. https://gdr.openei.org/files/1354/STTS_Geothermal_Project_Data_Summary.xlsx

Tags

  • subsurface-thermal-storage
  • cypress-reservoir
  • gamma-ray-logs
  • energy-storage
  • heat-storage-wells
  • geothermal-energy-storage
  • heat-storage
  • oilwell-conversion
  • temperature-data
  • thermal-storage
  • pressure-test
  • geothermal-modelling
  • injection-extraction-testing
  • heat-injection
  • subsurface-thermal
  • well-conversion
  • geothermal
  • energy

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