Geospatial Estimation of the Electric Power Potential in Sedimentary Basin Geothermal Resources Using Geologically Stored Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Sedimentary basins have emerged as potential candidates for geothermal development, in part because the aquifers within them are also the targets for the emplacement of carbon dioxide (CO2) to isolate it from the atmosphere. This geologically stored CO2 could be used as a geothermal heat extraction fluid and circulated between the CO2 storage reservoir and a surface power plant where it could be expanded in a turbine to produce electricity, and thus be a CO2 capture, utilization, and storage approach. The use of CO2 for geothermal heat mining has a number of thermophysical advantages over the use of native brine. Here, we used an integrated power cycle-well-reservoir modeling approach from our prior work to estimate the capacity of a CPG power plant as a function of important parameters of the aquifers into which CO2 would be emplaced. We then produced a reduced-form equation that predicts these estimated power generation capacities. In a case study of the continental United States, we applied this reduced-form equation to the relevant geospatial data for sedimentary basins and the aquifers and heat fluxes within them. While the availability of relevant data with high fidelity is limited, the results of this geospatial assessment suggest that there are large areas within the continental United States in which CPG power plants could be constructed and have power generation capacities on the order of those of other components of the electricity system. In particular, if other siting issues could be addressed, CPG developments in portions of Central Utah, Northwest and Southwest/South Central Colorado, Southwest and Central New Mexico, Eastern and Southern Arkansas, Northern Louisiana, West-Central Wyoming/Eastern Idaho, the central valley in California, Western Texas, and the Texas gulf coast may be able to have power generation capacities on the order of 100s of megawatts or more.