TY - THES

T1 - Integrated Modeling of Underground Hydrogen Storage

T2 - Viking A Field, the North Sea

AU - Abdellatif, Mohab Mohammed

N1 - no embargo

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - The demand for alternative sustainable energy sources has become higher and more inevitable than ever. Due to the lack of conventional sources, in addition to their environmental and politically related issues, different energy sectors are now focusing on looking into new renewable and reliable sources of energy, such as wind and solar, to meet energy needs. However, the main disadvantage of these sources is the considerable unconformity between production and consumption, which necessitates the reliability of conventional sources or the availability of large energy storage systems. Hydrogen can be utilized as an energy carrier and stored in underground reservoirs to provide the necessary energy storage system required to shrink the seasonal gap between the production and consumption of energy. However, the utilization of hydrogen is accompanied by challenges. Hydrogen is the lightest molecule on earth, hydrogen density is almost eight times less than methane; accordingly, in addition to its higher diffusivity and chemical, and bio-chemical activity, hydrogen behaves differently compared to natural gas. This study presents underground hydrogen storage technology, its state-of-art technologies, and the challenges this technology faces. To sense practically these challenges, a conceptual model is built to investigate the different parameters’ effect on the performance of the UHS. The effects of cushion gas type, diffusion, injection rate, and injection/production strategy are analyzed and interpreted. Moreover, the effect of completion configuration and the reservoir dimensions are investigated. Then the application is transferred to a real field study. For this study, the Viking A field in the North Sea was selected as a potential site for underground hydrogen storage. As the North Sea is stacked with tens of wind farms, it would be valuable to have such an energy storage facility in the area. Furthermore, Viking A is a depleted gas reservoir with a recovery factor of more than 90%, thus a lot of information is available about that field, and not much hydrocarbon will be lost. All these reasons make Viking A a good candidate for UHS in the North Sea. A sensitivity analysis study is performed, and different scenarios and strategies are defined to evaluate the impact of parameters on the performance of UHS in a real field.

AB - The demand for alternative sustainable energy sources has become higher and more inevitable than ever. Due to the lack of conventional sources, in addition to their environmental and politically related issues, different energy sectors are now focusing on looking into new renewable and reliable sources of energy, such as wind and solar, to meet energy needs. However, the main disadvantage of these sources is the considerable unconformity between production and consumption, which necessitates the reliability of conventional sources or the availability of large energy storage systems. Hydrogen can be utilized as an energy carrier and stored in underground reservoirs to provide the necessary energy storage system required to shrink the seasonal gap between the production and consumption of energy. However, the utilization of hydrogen is accompanied by challenges. Hydrogen is the lightest molecule on earth, hydrogen density is almost eight times less than methane; accordingly, in addition to its higher diffusivity and chemical, and bio-chemical activity, hydrogen behaves differently compared to natural gas. This study presents underground hydrogen storage technology, its state-of-art technologies, and the challenges this technology faces. To sense practically these challenges, a conceptual model is built to investigate the different parameters’ effect on the performance of the UHS. The effects of cushion gas type, diffusion, injection rate, and injection/production strategy are analyzed and interpreted. Moreover, the effect of completion configuration and the reservoir dimensions are investigated. Then the application is transferred to a real field study. For this study, the Viking A field in the North Sea was selected as a potential site for underground hydrogen storage. As the North Sea is stacked with tens of wind farms, it would be valuable to have such an energy storage facility in the area. Furthermore, Viking A is a depleted gas reservoir with a recovery factor of more than 90%, thus a lot of information is available about that field, and not much hydrocarbon will be lost. All these reasons make Viking A a good candidate for UHS in the North Sea. A sensitivity analysis study is performed, and different scenarios and strategies are defined to evaluate the impact of parameters on the performance of UHS in a real field.

KW - Unterirdische Wasserstoffspeicherung

KW - Integrierte Modellierung

KW - saubere Energie

KW - Erderwärmung

KW - Underground Hydrogen Storage

KW - Integrated Asset Modelling

KW - Clean Energy

KW - Global Warming

M3 - Master's Thesis

ER -