Energy storage
51ΑΤΖζ Research
For many years, energy policy in the UK has been framed by the requirement for:
- security of supply
- energy that is affordable
- sources of low-carbon energy
Globally, the requirements of the COP21 (βParis Agreementβ) on climate change are to reduce temperature rises to two degrees by 2050. However, there are significant environmental advantages to keeping the rise in temperature to less than two degrees; a rise restricted to just 1.5 degrees would lead to a reduced rise in sea level, maintain some coral communities and keep more Arctic sea ice.
It is thought that restricting the temperature rise to two degrees requires a reduction in carbon emissions of 70β90 per cent worldwide; the UK has adopted an emissions reduction target of 80 per cent by 2050. Furthermore, the UK has pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2050 (with Scotland aiming to achieve this by 2045).
Renewable energy
A void developed in halite in west Lancashire, imaged as a 3D model. Β© BGS/51ΑΤΖζ.
As well as mapping potential locations for gas storage caverns, we have also calculated the energy that can be stored in individual caverns, allowing planners and developers to understand the variation in the amount of energy that can be stored in different parts of the UK. Contains Ordnance Survey data Β© Crown Copyright and database rights 2020.
Halite is a complex, crystalline rock that is viscoplastic, meaning it flows naturally in the subsurface and can self-heal fractures over geological time. Halite is also soluble. These properties mean that large voids in the subsurface can be created by solution mining, resulting in storage space that is gas-tight and suitable for the storage of natural gas, compressed air and hydrogen, three principal energy carriers. Β© BGS/51ΑΤΖζ.
This is a 3D model of an engineered gas storage cavern in solution-mined halite. This cavern is over 500 m below the ground surface, with approximate dimensions of 80 m high and 50 m diameter and 300 000 m3 in volume. Our research has mapped out the areas where these caverns could potentially be developed. Β© BGS/51ΑΤΖζ.
One way to achieve these ambitious targets is to increase the use of renewable energy. However, to address the issue of intermittent supply of energy (e.g. days with little sunshine or wind) energy has to be stored at time of surplus for use at times where demand outstrips supply.
Technologies for energy storage
Large-scale energy storage is possible via various technologies.
- The largest potential energy stores in the UK are pumped hydro schemes, which account for over 90 per cent of current storage capacity in the UK
- Underground storage is operated commercially in several parts of the UK, where large caverns in halite have been developed and store various products including natural gas and hydrogen. There is the potential for energy to be stored in similar caverns as compressed air
- Heat and cool can be stored in a multitude of ways in the subsurface, including being stored and retrieved in the pore space of depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifers. There are also opportunities to store heat as molten salt and in hot rocks and cool in the production of ice when demand for electricity is low
- The pore space in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifers can also be a target for the storage of fluids including natural gas, hydrogen and fuel
- We have contributed to a Europe-wide review of
Hydrogen as an energy source
A second route to meeting the temperature rise targets may be to increase the use of hydrogen as an energy source or carrier. Hydrogen could decarbonise domestic heating, transport and areas of industry.
Hydrogen can be produced from methane; it produces water and no carbon dioxide (CO2) on combustion. However, commercial production of hydrogen is energy intensive, with the steam methane reformation process being more carbon-intensive than combustion, so carbon capture and storage (CCS) is required to lessen the carbon impact. Hydrogen can also be produced by electrolysis from water, but to date this is not commercially viable.
The role of geology
Geology is key to the success of the hydrogen economy as a source of methane, as a sink for CO2 and to provide underground storage for large quantities of hydrogen. The underground geology can also provide the host for the underground energy-storage techniques that could potentially be developed in the UK. Our rich geological heritage includes thick beds of halite that can be developed for cavern storage, depleted hydrocarbon fields that have held large amounts of oil and gas over geological time and aquifers with pore space that could be utilised for energy storage.
There are also novel uses of the underground for energy storage such as lined tunnels for compressed air, abandoned mines for heat storage and permeable rocks/caverns for underground pumped hydro projects.
The UK Government, through the Industrial Strategy, has identified energy storage as one of eight technologies where the UK is set to become a global leader.
Eight great technologies in which the UK is set to be a global leader. Source:
We have a sustained track record of research in this area, which will underpin future laboratory, field and GIS-based activities and commissions.
References
BΓ©rest, P, RΓ©veillΓ¨re, A, Evans, D J, and StΓΆwer, M. 2019. . Oil & Gas Science and Technology β Revue dβIFP Energies Nouvelles, Vol. 74, 27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2516/ogst/2018093
Crotogino, F, Schneider, G-S, and Evans, D J. 2017. . Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy, Vol. 232,(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957650917731181
Evans, D J. 2009. . 173β216 in Underground Energy Storage: worldwide experiences and future development in the UK and Europe. Evans, D J, and Chadwick, R A (editors). Geological Society Special Publication 313. (London: Geological Society.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP313.12
Evans, D J. 2008. . SMRI Fall 2008 Technical Conference, 13β14 October 2008, Austin, USA.
Evans, D J, and Chadwick, R A (editors). 2009. . Geological Society Special Publication 313. (London: Geological Society.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP313.0
Evans, D, and Chadwick, R A. 2009. . 1β11 in Underground Energy Storage: worldwide experiences and future development in the UK and Europe. Evans, D J, and Chadwick, R A (editors). Geological Society Special Publication 313. (London: Geological Society.) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP313.1
Evans, D J, and Holloway, S. 2009. . 39β80 in Underground Energy Storage: Underground Energy Storage: worldwide experiences and future development in the UK and Europe. Evans, D J, and Chadwick, R A (editors). Geological Society Special Publication 313. (London: Geological Society.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP313.5
Evans, D J, and West, J M. 2008. . Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Research Report RR605. Available via https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr605.htm
Evans, D J, Carpenter, G, and Farr, G. 2019. . 42β114 in Energy Storage Options and their Environmental Impact. Hester, R E, and Harrison, R M (editors). (London, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/9781788015530-00042
Evans, D J, Kingdon, A, Hough, E, Reynolds, W, and Heitmann, N. 2012. Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. 169(5), 587β592. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-76492011-14
Evans, D J, Williams, J D O, Hough, E, and Stacey, A. 2011. . SMRI Fall 2011 Technical Conference, 3β4 October 2011, York, UK.
Evans, D J, Stephenson, M H, and Shaw, R. 2009. . Land Use Policy, Vol. 265(1), S302βS316. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.09.015
Evans, D J, Reay, D M, Riley, N J, Mitchell, W I, and Busby, J. 2006. . 51ΑΤΖζ Internal Report, IR/06/095.
Evans, D J, Holloway, S, and Riley, N J. 2004. . 51ΑΤΖζ Occasional Publication, 5. (Nottingham, UK: 51ΑΤΖζ.) (Unpublished.)
Field, L P, Milodowski, A E, Evans, D J, Palumbo-Roe, B, Hall, M R, Marriott, A L, Barlow, T, and Devez, A. 2017. . Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Vol. 52, 240β254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/qjegh2018-072
Field, L P, Palumbo-Roe, B, Milodowski, A E, Hall, M R, Parkes, D, and Evans, D. 2015. . In Goldschmidt 2015, Prague, Czech Republic, 16β21 August. (Unpublished.) Available at http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/510575/
Garvey, S D, Eames, P C, Wang, J H, Pimm, A J, Waterson, M, MacKay, R S, Giuliette, M, Flatley, L C, Thomson, M, Barton, J, Evans, D J, Busby, J, and Garvey, J E. 2015. . Energy Policy, Vol. 86, 544β551. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.08.001
He, W, Luo, X, Evans, DJ, Busby, J, Garvey, S, Parkes, D, and Wang, J. 2017. . 2017. Applied Energy, Vol. 208, 745β757. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.09.074
Hough, E, and Evans, D J. 2016. In: 55th British Sedimentological Research Group Annual Meeting, Cambridge, UK, 18β20 December 2016. (Unpublished.) Available at http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/515998/
Hough, E, and Evans, D J. 2011. Cheshire Basin field workshop for SMRI Fall 2011 Technical Conference. SMRI Fall 2011 Technical Conference, 5β6 October, York, UK.
Hough, E, Evans, D J, and Williamson, J P. 2011. . SMRI Fall 2011 Technical Conference, 3β4 October 2011, York, UK.
Kingdon, A, and Evans, D J. 2013. . In: EGU General Assembly 2013, Vienna, Austria, 7β12 April 2013 (unpublished).
Kingdon, A, Evans, D J, Hough, E, Heitmann, N, and Reynolds, W. 2011. . SMRI Fall 2011 Technical Conference, 3β4 October 2011, York, UK. (Unpublished.)
Milodowski, A E, Field, L P, Palumbo-Roe, B, Hall, M R, Parkes, D, and Evans, D J. 2014 . In: UKES2014: UK Energy Storage Conference, Warwick, UK, 25β27 November 2014 (unpublished).
Parkes, D, Evans, D J, Dooner, M, He, W, Busby, J, and Garvey, S. 2019. . Geophysical Research Abstracts 21, EGU 2019β4205.
Parkes, D, Evans, D J, Williamson, J P, and Williams, J D O. 2018. . Journal of Energy Science, Vol. 18, 50β61.
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