Storing Renewables As Gas: The concept involves effectively turning wind and solar power into gas, and then storing it.
Ok, so with electrolysis solar and wind energy can be coverted to methane gas. Where do we store the gas? One of the answers is salt caverns. No, I did not just skim over this. I asked myself, what is a salt cavern? Where Are They Located? Are they safe? Are they obstrusive to the environment and are they environmentally friendly? What do they look like? Are they costly to build? My comments will be an oversimplification of what i found. The web provides a number of resources available on this subject.
A Salt Cavern is a pocket (naturally formed). Water is injected into, this creates saline which is extracted and the process opens the pocket enough to store gas in. Safety is an issue due to the volatile nature of hydrocarbons. Note, that as the hydrocarbons get bigger they become less volatile.
The type of facilities required to perform, operate and maintain a salt cavern storage location iscostly and obtrusive, big above ground piping, huge tanks.
Another issue of concern is location of the caverns. In the United States there are 3 regions: North Region, Eastern Region, and the Producing Region (which is mostly texas and a few neighboring states to the east). In the Northern Region: California, Washington, Montana, and a few others have what is called depleted fields and aquifers (aquifers are time consuming and costly to build). The Eastern Region has the highest level of working gas storage capacity of the other regions and the largest number of storage sites, mainly in depleted reservoirs. The Northern and Eastern Regions are catogized as consuming. The producing south's storage facilities are linked to the market centers and play a crucial role in the efficient export, transmission and distribution of natural gas produced to the consuming regions.
Ok, so with electrolysis solar and wind energy can be coverted to methane gas. Where do we store the gas? One of the answers is salt caverns. No, I did not just skim over this. I asked myself, what is a salt cavern? Where Are They Located? Are they safe? Are they obstrusive to the environment and are they environmentally friendly? What do they look like? Are they costly to build? My comments will be an oversimplification of what i found. The web provides a number of resources available on this subject.
A Salt Cavern is a pocket (naturally formed). Water is injected into, this creates saline which is extracted and the process opens the pocket enough to store gas in. Safety is an issue due to the volatile nature of hydrocarbons. Note, that as the hydrocarbons get bigger they become less volatile.
The type of facilities required to perform, operate and maintain a salt cavern storage location iscostly and obtrusive, big above ground piping, huge tanks.
Another issue of concern is location of the caverns. In the United States there are 3 regions: North Region, Eastern Region, and the Producing Region (which is mostly texas and a few neighboring states to the east). In the Northern Region: California, Washington, Montana, and a few others have what is called depleted fields and aquifers (aquifers are time consuming and costly to build). The Eastern Region has the highest level of working gas storage capacity of the other regions and the largest number of storage sites, mainly in depleted reservoirs. The Northern and Eastern Regions are catogized as consuming. The producing south's storage facilities are linked to the market centers and play a crucial role in the efficient export, transmission and distribution of natural gas produced to the consuming regions.
