Repurposing hydrocarbon wells for geothermal use in the UK: the onshore fields with the greatest potential

Watson, S. M., Falcone, G. and Westaway, R. (2020) Repurposing hydrocarbon wells for geothermal use in the UK: the onshore fields with the greatest potential. Energies, 13(14), e3541. (doi: 10.3390/en13143541)

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Abstract

One potential opportunity for the decarbonisation of heat supply in the UK is the repurposing of onshore hydrocarbon wells for the production and/or storage of geothermal heat. This paper reports an investigation into the most favourable candidate sites for such repurposing, taking into consideration the available thermal energy outputs and technological options for heat use. A GIS mapping model was generated, combining public domain data on onshore wells and production data from onshore fields, provided by the UK Oil and Gas Authority, with available subsurface temperature data. This model has thus integrated information on location, depth, operational status, and bottom-hole temperature for onshore hydrocarbon wells with production rates from onshore fields in the UK. Of the 2242 onshore hydrocarbon wells thus reported, 560 have the potential to be repurposed, 292 of which are currently operating. Using aggregated water production data for all operating wells in each field, the fields with the greatest potential for geothermal repurposing are ranked. Two of these, the Wytch Farm and Wareham fields, are selected for more detailed analysis. Wytch Farm, the largest onshore oilfield in western Europe, produces water at ~65 °C that might yield a feasible thermal power output of ~90 MW. If an end use could be found where it might substitute for burning of natural gas, the value of this output would be ~£90,000 per day or ~£30 million per year. However, this field is located in a protected landscape where local development would be restricted by planning regulations. The Wareham field is not in a protected landscape, but the low temperature, ~44 °C, and low flow rate limit the scope of potential end uses. Nonetheless, these and the other highly ranked fields have potential heat outputs that are significant compared with other geothermal heat projects, thus offering the possibility of making useful contributions to the decarbonisation of UK energy use.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This research and the APC were funded by UK Research and Innovation through EPSRC-CESI grant number FFC1-024.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Falcone, Professor Gioia and Westaway, Dr Robert and Watson, Mr Sean
Creator Roles:
Falcone, G.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Writing – review and editing
WATSON, S.Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Westaway, R.Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review and editing
Authors: Watson, S. M., Falcone, G., and Westaway, R.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Infrastructure and Environment
Journal Name:Energies
Publisher:MDPI
ISSN:1996-1073
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2020 The Authors
First Published:First published in Energies 13(14):e3541
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
304471CESI Research Flexible FundGioia FalconeEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)BH153224 FFC1-024ENG - Systems Power & Energy