Assured capacity and safe geological storage of CO 2

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Alan Wilkerson
10 years ago
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1 Assured capacity and safe geological storage of CO 2 Ceri J Vincent CO 2 GeoNet Executive Committee Chair and British Geological Survey, UK [email protected] website:

2 Assured storage capacity (1) Widespread and large scale Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) is a key part of meeting our emission targets Assured storage capacity is fundamental to the success of individual CCS projects but also to implementation of CCS on a national and global scale Need to be able to safely store all the captured CO 2 Assured storage is needed to take investment decisions Static capacity estimates indicate there is storage space for Europe, need to advance to national and European dynamic storage atlas Storage sites need to be ready in time Section courtesy NCCCS

3 Assured storage capacity (2) Need to understand the reservoir characteristics in order to predict how the CO 2 and reservoir will behave at any particular storage site Where are the boundaries of the reservoir and storage complex? Is the geological formation uniform or heterogeneous? How many wells will be needed to access the storage capacity? (dynamic storage capacity) Akhurst et al., in press, Oil & Gas Science and Technology Review

4 Assured storage capacity (3) Data is one of the key issues in assuring storage capacity more data will result in a more accurate assessment There are lots of data in the public domain or data collected during other resource assessment activities Clear communication on how the storage capacity has been estimated and confidence in the data is essential

5 Assured storage capacity (4) Assured capacity also relies on Regulatory regime (are you allowed to utilise that storage site?) Finance (how much will it cost to access that storage space?) Field Research Station #1 well, Canada

6 Flexible storage solutions Strategic planning for CCS is required Consider national and international energy landscape Assess how to best satisfy the requirements of society for affordable, dependable and sustainable energy sources with low greenhouse gas emissions Ensure the most efficient use of the subsurface Regulatory issues need to be considered (e.g. for example, how will stacked storage be permitted?)

7 Safe storage (1) Site assessment Pre-injection characterisation and baseline Monitoring during injection and storage Post injection monitoring Post injection monitoring Post injection monitoring Site selection and assessment Development Operation Post-injection/ closure Post-closure Post-transfer How can CO 2 storage be implemented in a manner that is safe for humans and the environment? Ensuring that CO 2 storage is carried out in a safe manner requires actions at all stages of the CO 2 storage lifecycle thorough pre-injection risk-led geological site characterization (includes testing the reservoir and seal response to CO 2 ) effective monitoring, measurement and verification (MMV) of the site during injection and plan for how to respond to any irregularities understanding of long term storage site evolution during the post-injection phase.

8 Safe storage (2) Demonstrating the site is behaving as expected through monitoring, measurement and verification is key to ensuring the CO 2 storage site is safe Models of the storage site are iteratively updated as new data and new techniques become available Image courtesy Andy Chadwick and CO 2 CARE project

9 Safe storage (3) Best practice recommendations on understanding how risks to storage site security can be mitigated have been produced by recent projects Techniques and technologies for rapidly detecting and confirming leakage (if it occurs) have been proven at pilot and natural leakage sites

10 Practical experience Demonstration projects store CO 2 and prove the technology at scale Practical experience gained at pilot and test injection sites and field laboratories is important to move CCS forward Pilot sites allow demonstration of innovative monitoring technologies and strategies Experiments at natural analogue sites are also important in understanding longer-term processes and potential impacts of leakage

11 Public engagement (1) Onshore CO 2 storage pilot projects offer an opportunity for public engagement and knowledge transfer Communication with local community needs to be transparent and needs to start in the very early phase of the project

12 Public engagement (2) Communication on geological storage of CO 2 is one of the main activities undertaken by CO 2 GeoNet in its role as a pan-european research Association

13 Thank you

Monitoring strategies for CO 2. Nick Riley Jonathan Pearce. Storage

Monitoring strategies for CO 2 storage Nick Riley Jonathan Pearce Outline of talk Why do we need to monitor CO 2? How & what do we monitor? Monitoring strategies Summary EU CCS Directive Overriding consideration