The continued adoption of intermittent renewable-power generation sources, such as wind or solar, requires large-scale, long-duration energy storage to buffer the intermittency of renewable power sources to supply 100% dispatchable power whenever it is needed. When required for durations longer than 24 hours and at large scale (500 MW or more), current energy storage solutions offer only 4–10 hours storage, becoming prohibitively expensive, as in the case of batteries or site-constrained and environmentally challenged pumped hydro systems.This paper presents a hyperscale energy-storage solution using repurposed idle oil and gas wells to store energy in subsurface saline aquifers. The screening criteria for suitable subsurface saline aquifers that can be accessed via idle oil and gas wells is discussed. Repurposing idle wells or subsurface energy storage could provide an alternative…
Idle Wells Could Provide Paths to Large-Scale Subsurface Energy Storage
