Electro thermal in situ energy storage for intermittent energy sources to recover fuel from hydro carbonaceous earth formations
First Claim
1. A method of heating at least a part of a subsurface earth hydrocarbon formation containing valuable constituents, comprising forming a opening into said formation,heating said formation with power transferred into said opening from an electrical power grid connected to multiple sources of electrical power that include at least one source of electrical power that exhibits intermittent power changes,heating said hydrocarbon formation to store thermal energy in said formation over a time interval sufficient to develop a recoverable fluid fuel in said formation, and recovering an amount of said fluid fuel having an energy content greater than the energy consumed in the heating of said hydrocarbon material,withdrawing valuable constituents from said formation via said opening, andvarying the load on said power grid to at least partially compensate for the effects of said intermittent power changes on said power grid.
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Abstract
The vast North American oil shale and tar sand deposits offer the potential to make USA energy independent. However, if these deposits were produced by the existing combustion processes, substantial CO2 emissions would be injected in to air. To avoid this green house gas problem and yet produce liquid fuels, an electro-thermal energy storage system that may be wind-powered is described. It stores the unpredictable, intermittent (e.g., wind) electrical energy over long periods as thermal energy in fossil hydrocarbon deposits. Because the thermal diffusion time is very slow in such deposits, the thermal energy is effectively trapped in a defined section of a hydrocarbon deposit. This allows time for the thermal energy to convert hydrocarbons into gaseous and liquid fuels. It can also use a portion of the fuel to regenerate electrical power into the electrical grid of higher energy content than was initially stored. In addition, the method can increase the reliability of the grid and provide a load leveling function.
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19 Claims
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1. A method of heating at least a part of a subsurface earth hydrocarbon formation containing valuable constituents, comprising forming a opening into said formation,
heating said formation with power transferred into said opening from an electrical power grid connected to multiple sources of electrical power that include at least one source of electrical power that exhibits intermittent power changes, heating said hydrocarbon formation to store thermal energy in said formation over a time interval sufficient to develop a recoverable fluid fuel in said formation, and recovering an amount of said fluid fuel having an energy content greater than the energy consumed in the heating of said hydrocarbon material, withdrawing valuable constituents from said formation via said opening, and varying the load on said power grid to at least partially compensate for the effects of said intermittent power changes on said power grid.
Specification