Assessment of deep geothermal energy exploitation methods: The need for novel single-well solutions

Falcone, Gioia; Liu, Xiaolei; Okech, Roy Radido; Seyidov, Ferid; Teodoriu, Cătălin

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.06.144

Cited by 115 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…An alternative to re-drilling a well might be to re-complete the well to implement a closed-loop wellbore heat exchanger system [32,33]. This would depend on favourable geological conditions and local heat requirements [34].…”

Section: Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells and Technology Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells for Geothermal Use in the UK: The Onshore Fields with the Greatest Potential

2020

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One potential opportunity for the decarbonisation of heat supply in the UK is the repurposing of onshore hydrocarbon wells for the production and/or storage of geothermal heat. This paper reports an investigation into the most favourable candidate sites for such repurposing, taking into consideration the available thermal energy outputs and technological options for heat use. A GIS mapping model was generated, combining public domain data on onshore wells and production data from onshore fields, provided by the UK Oil and Gas Authority, with available subsurface temperature data. This model has thus integrated information on location, depth, operational status, and bottom-hole temperature for onshore hydrocarbon wells with production rates from onshore fields in the UK. Of the 2242 onshore hydrocarbon wells thus reported, 560 have the potential to be repurposed, 292 of which are currently operating. Using aggregated water production data for all operating wells in each field, the fields with the greatest potential for geothermal repurposing are ranked. Two of these, the Wytch Farm and Wareham fields, are selected for more detailed analysis. Wytch Farm, the largest onshore oilfield in western Europe, produces water at ~65 °C that might yield a feasible thermal power output of ~90 MW. If an end use could be found where it might substitute for burning of natural gas, the value of this output would be ~£90,000 per day or ~£30 million per year. However, this field is located in a protected landscape where local development would be restricted by planning regulations. The Wareham field is not in a protected landscape, but the low temperature, ~44 °C, and low flow rate limit the scope of potential end uses. Nonetheless, these and the other highly ranked fields have potential heat outputs that are significant compared with other geothermal heat projects, thus offering the possibility of making useful contributions to the decarbonisation of UK energy use.

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Section: Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells and Technology Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Application of this technology would remove the cost of drilling a new deep geothermal well. If required, enlargement of the near-wellbore region could be conducted to artificially enhance the downhole thermal properties [33].…”

Section: Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells and Technology Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells for Geothermal Use in the UK: The Onshore Fields with the Greatest Potential

2020

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“…The performance and feasibility of using DBHE for energy storage were also evaluated by Welsch et al (2016) through a detailed comparison comprising more than 250 different numerical storage models. In order to analyze the performance difference between conventional and unconventional deep geothermal well concepts, Falcone et al (2018) performed various numerical simulations to optimize the BHE design and to enhance the heat exchange with the surrounding formation. Shi et al (2018) presented a transient state fluid flow and heat transfer model considering natural convection for down-hole coaxial heat exchanger system and concluded that this system could be more suitable for the geothermal field with smaller porosity.…”

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confidence: 99%

Numerical investigation on the performance, sustainability, and efficiency of the deep borehole heat exchanger system for building heating

et al. 2019

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IntroductionWith the growing demand on renewable energy all over the world, geothermal heating and cooling is increasingly utilized by applying borehole heat exchanger (BHE) coupled ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems. One of the factors preventing the further application of GSHP system in densely populated urban areas is the limiting land surface for installing the BHEs. Therefore, deeper boreholes with a depth of 2302 m have been AbstractIn densely inhabited urban areas, deep borehole heat exchangers (DBHE) have been proposed to be integrated with the heat pump in order to utilize geothermal energy for building heating purposes. In this work, a comprehensive numerical model was constructed with the OpenGeoSys (OGS) software applying the dual-continuum approach. The model was verified against analytical solution, as well as by comparing with the integrated heat flux distribution. A series of modeling scenarios were designed and simulated in this study to perform the DBHE system analysis and to investigate the influence of pipe materials, grout thermal conductivity, geothermal gradient, soil thermal conductivity, and groundwater flow. It was found that the soil thermal conductivity is the most important parameter for the DBHE system performance. Both thermally enhanced grout and the thermally insulated inner pipe will elevate the outflow temperature of the DBHE. With an elevated geothermal gradient of 0.04 °C m −1 , the short-term sustainable specific heat extraction rate imposed on the DBHE can be increased to 150-200 W m −1 . The quantification of maximum heat extraction rate was conducted based on the modeling of 30-year-long operation scenarios. With a standard geothermal gradient of 0.03 °C m −1 , the extraction rate has to be kept below 125 W m −1 in the long-term operation. To reflect the electricity consumption by circulating pump, the coefficient of system performance (CSP) was proposed in this work to better quantify the system efficiency. With the typical pipe structure and flow rate specified in this study, it is found that the lower limit of the DBHE system is at a CSP value of 3.7. The extended numerical model presented in this study can be applied to the design and optimization of DBHE-coupled ground source heat pump systems. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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“…An alternative to the doublet system is using single wells. This concept involves only drilling one borehole and relying mostly on heat-conduction with the surrounding rock mass to warm fluids within the borehole (Falcone et al 2018). A version of single well technology has been proposed and tested at the Rosemanowes Quarry in Cornwall (Law et al, 2015).…”

Section: Deep Geothermal Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-carbon GeoEnergy resource options in the Midland Valley of Scotland, UK

Heinemann

Alcalde

Johnson

et al. 2019

SJG

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Scotland is committed to be a carbon-neutral society by 2040 and has achieved the important initial step of decarbonising power production. However, more ambitious measures are required to fully decarbonise all of the electricity, transport and heating sectors. We explore the potential to use the low-carbon GeoEnergy resources and bio-energy combined with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) in the Midland Valley area to decarbonise the Scottish economy and society. The Midland Valley has a long history of geological resource extraction, and as a result, the geology of the region is wellcharacterised. Geothermal energy and subsurface energy storage have the potential to be implemented. Some of them, such as gravity and heat storage, could re-use the redundant mining infrastructure to decrease investment costs. Hydrogen storage could be of particular interest as the Midland Valley offers the required caprock-reservoir assemblages. BECCS is also a promising option to reduce overall CO 2 emissions between 1.10-4.40 MtCO 2 /yr. The Midland Valley has enough space to grow the necessary crops, but CO 2 storage will most likely be implemented in North Sea saline aquifers. The studied aspects suggest that the Midland Valley represents a viable option in Scotland for the exploitation of the majority of low-carbon GeoEnergy resources.

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Assessment of deep geothermal energy exploitation methods: The need for novel single-well solutions

Cited by 115 publications

References 19 publications

Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells for Geothermal Use in the UK: The Onshore Fields with the Greatest Potential

Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells for Geothermal Use in the UK: The Onshore Fields with the Greatest Potential

Numerical investigation on the performance, sustainability, and efficiency of the deep borehole heat exchanger system for building heating

Low-carbon GeoEnergy resource options in the Midland Valley of Scotland, UK

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