| Project Detail |
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates the U.S. will need 120 GW of grid-wide energy storage to achieve 80% renewable energy generation by 2050. Gravity-based energy storage systems offer the possibility of long duration energy storage at relatively low cost.
Project Innovation + Advantages:
To create energy storage that addresses Li-ion limitations, the project team has identified an unlikely source: inactive upstream oil and gas (O&G) wells. NREL will repurpose inactive O&G wells to create long-term, inexpensive energy storage. Team member Renewell Energy has invented a method of underground energy storage called Gravity Wells that will give a second life to ~$4 trillion worth of inactive upstream O&G infrastructure and result in the sealing of hundreds of thousands of idle O&G wells currently emitting methane. This will result in an industry-leading levelized cost of storage and mitigation of huge quantities of CO2e. Gravity Wells store and release potential energy by raising and lowering heavy weights in idle wellbores using an ultra-efficient winch and generator system. When electricity prices are low the weight is raised and held to store energy. The weight is lowered to generate power when electricity prices are high. The mechanical, underground, and distributed nature of this technology combine to provide flexible duration and term and insusceptibility to weather, creating the most resilient, reliable energy storage resource available. This technology will be transformational to the energy industry as it will provide the nation’s lowest cost, most flexible, and most GHG-abating energy storage. |
