Summer is around the corner! On behalf of the Board of Directors of SPE Golden Gate Section, we'd like to invite you to attend our last meeting in the SPE year of 2021-2022. The meeting will be on Wednesday, June 1st starting at 11:00 am. It will be a Zoom meeting. This meeting will also serve as the section’s annual meeting to finalize the selection of the Board of Directors for 2022-2023.
Our speaker is Dr. Rita Esuru Okoroafor. The title of his presentation is: Evaluating the Feasibility of Underground Hydrogen Storage as a Complement to Renewable Energy Production. An abstract of the talk and a short bio of Dr. Okoroafor are shown below.
Looking forward to seeing you (Albeit virtually) at the next Golden Gate Section Meetings. Have a wonderful summer!
Title: Evaluating the Feasibility of Underground Hydrogen Storage as a Complement to Renewable Energy Production
When: Wednesday, June 1st, 2022 (11AM Pacific)
Where: Online via Zoom
Meeting Link: Zoom Meeting - SPEGGS March 2022 Link
Meeting ID: 860 3570 2797
Passcode: 106236
Abstract
With growing demands for energy and the need to reduce energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, several clean energy technologies are being researched, developed, and tested. Renewable energy resources such as solar and wind can provide emission-free electricity and are being adopted into the electricity grid. The increasing amounts of renewable energy onto the grid pose a challenge as the renewable resources can generate more electricity than is required. Energy generation from renewable resources is often curtailed to manage this surplus energy. While curtailment is an acceptable operational tool, it is anticipated that there will be more instances of oversupply amidst the energy transition. A possible solution to reduce the amount of curtailed renewable energy is to convert the surplus energy to hydrogen, store it, and later convert the hydrogen to electricity to power the grid.
This presentation shows how underground hydrogen storage in porous media can complement a high renewable energy portfolio by storing the energy that would otherwise have been curtailed. Based on a screening set of criteria, potential depleted fields in Northern California that would be suitable for underground hydrogen storage were identified. The amount of hydrogen that is potentially recovered by the seasonal hydrogen storage was estimated using a numerical simulation model.
The presentation outlines the value chain involved in underground hydrogen storage, shows how geological storage of hydrogen meets the capacity required to store the surplus energy, and demonstrates the role petroleum engineering concepts could play in the process.
About the Speaker
Dr. Rita Esuru Okoroafor is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Stanford Center for Carbon Storage, Stanford University. During her doctoral studies, Dr. Okoroafor’s research focused on investigating optimal methodologies for harnessing Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) through numerical simulation of the subsurface. Before embarking on her Ph.D., Dr. Okoroafor was a Petroleum Engineer with Schlumberger for 13 years. She started out supporting formation pressure and fluid sampling data acquisition while drilling and on wireline, carrying out well test analyses, production log interpretation, and cased hole log interpretation. She later supported the development of a single well reservoir modeling software for while-drilling applications, and aided operators in creating novel workflows for reservoir management utilizing Schlumberger’s Petroleum Engineering software. Dr. Okoroafor is a recipient of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Africa Region Reservoir Dynamics and Description Award (2017), SPE International Young Member Outstanding Service Award (2016), and SPE Africa Region Young Member Outstanding Service Award (2014).
Dr. Okoroafor’s current research involves developing and implementing rigorous, interdisciplinary site selection criteria for carbon dioxide and hydrogen storage. Her areas of interest include geothermal reservoir engineering, carbon dioxide storage and utilization, geologic storage of hydrogen, and reservoir geomechanics.