22 SEPTEMBER 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® The Potential of Underground Geothermal Energy Storage Adapted from Information by National Renewable Energy Laboratory A new project led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) aims to address the need for renewable energy storage by tapping into underground geothermal reservoirs. Storing excess energy as thermal energy underground allows energy generated at one time to be captured, stored, and recovered for use after many months or even seasons. This project will evaluate the technical and economic opportunities to hybridize solar power and periods of low-cost renewable electricity with geothermal reservoir thermal energy storage to provide these important storage capabilities at the national level. "This project will identify suitable sites for geothermal reservoir thermal energy storage, as well as investigate charging the system with thermal energy from two different sources - concentrating solar power and from heat pumps which can be run during periods of low-cost or negatively priced renewable electricity - allowing these systems to be deployed in nontraditional regions," said Guangdong Zhu, project lead and NREL group manager of thermal energy systems. The recent kickoff meeting for this project brought together 20 participants from partnering entities to NREL's campus. In addition to NREL, the U.S. Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Office, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Premier Resource Management, and Earthbridge Energy are partnering on the project. The national laboratories will work with Premier Resource Management on a case study to explore using existing gas and oil reservoirs with solar thermal hybridization in California. They will also work with Earthbridge Energy on a case study to apply high-efficiency heat pump technologies to store excess wind power into water reservoirs in Texas. "This project will also evaluate opportunities to reduce RTES (reservoir thermal energy storage) development costs, by leveraging already existing infrastructure and using, for example, depleted oil and gas reservoirs," said Jerry Carr, project officer at the U.S. Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Office. While thermal storage in shallow aquifers has been successfully implemented in the United States and western Europe for decades, there are currently no commercial thermal storage projects in depleted gas and oil reservoirs. Not only will utilizing this resource promote significant cost savings, it will also encourage the gas and oil industry to participate in the transition to a decarbonized energy economy by leveraging existing capital and assets. Stored thermal energy has the potential to generate electricity and directly produce heat which can be used by industrial processes. The energy can also be kept in cold storage reservoirs to be used for building and industrial cooling. Ultimately, this project will aid in decarbonization and has the potential to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in energy storage planning and implementation if adopted in communities most impacted by high heating and cooling bills. Researchers gathered on NREL’s campus to kick off a project to provide new underground geothermal heating and cooling solutions. GEO For more information call: (270) 786-3010 or visit us online: www.geothermalsupply.com All New! Atlantis-Pro Vault • Traffic-Rated Capable • Simple installation • Trouble-free operation Turning Coal into Natural Gas Compiled by Editorial Staff, WorldWide Drilling Resource® The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provides electricity for 153 local power companies serving 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six surrounding states. Named for George Colbert, former chief of the Chickasaw Nation, the Colbert Fossil Plant in northern Alabama, began operation in 1955. It used coal to generate about 1200 megawatts of electricity until 2016, when the last of its five units was idled. Now, the TVA is constructing the Colbert Combustion Turbine Plant, powered by natural gas, beside the shuttered facility. There will be three generators capable of producing a total of 750 megawatts to power over 400,000 homes. The new natural gas plants emit less carbon than the coal plants they are replacing and can be fired up quickly to provide intermittent power supply when solar or wind energy sources are not available. Current and retired coal plant sites are excellent locations for gas generation because the electrical infrastructure is already in place. TVA needs to replace lost coal generation with additional power production to keep up with expected power demand growth, which could double by 2050 as electric vehicles become dominant on the road. G&O
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk4Mzk=