Western Kern's legacy oil fields have gained new interest recently as a place to bury carbon dioxide. But what about also using the area's ample underground geologic formations to store energy for the state power grid?
A Bakersfield company is working with federal scientists to develop a plant in Antelope Hills that would use parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight on groundwater that would be injected hot into an underground reservoir. Later, when the power is needed, steam from the hot water would run a turbine connected to an electrical substation nearby.
An initial, $100 million demonstration project planned to debut no sooner than 2025 would produce 10 megawatts of electrical power for five hours nightly. If all goes well, it could grow to 400 megawatts at a cost of $1.8 billion.
Premier Resource Management LLC's project could represent a novel innovation in Kern's increasingly diverse energy mix. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, one of several partners on the project, notes similar geothermal power projects have worked in the United States and Europe for decades, but none have deployed a depleted oil and gas reservoir.
The company says the project would displace petroleum-fed "peaker" power plants with a zero emission, closed process that uses brackish groundwater already in place and creates minimal waste. If the concept were expanded across California oil fields, it says, the technology could shoulder a significant share of the state's power during times of peak demand.
"We believe the oil fields could meet roughly half California's 2045 long duration energy storage goals with 45 gigawatts of potential on the west side (of Kern) alone," Mike Umbro, corporate development partner at Premier, said by email.
There are some limitations: It would take about 15 months to heat the reservoir enough to generate power efficiently. Also, if it were run nonstop for as long as 40 days, the operation would take months to reheat.
A March 9 post by NREL on its website spotlighted its partnership on the project, together with the U.S. Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Office, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Idaho National Laboratory. It said the work would help with decarbonization of the power sector while supporting diversity, equity and inclusion "if adopted in communities most impacted by high heating and cooling bills."
"Not only will utilizing this resource promote significant cost savings," NREL said in the post, "but it will also encourage oil and gas industries to participate in the transition to a decarbonized energy economy by leveraging existing capital and assets."
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