Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)

Canada and the world are gradually embarking on a grand program of decarbonization to combat climate change. This really means reducing greenhouse gas emissions linked to fossil fuels. There are many ways to do this, and my research program for the next decade is focused on two methods with a strong emphasis on Geomechanics.

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) in salt caverns has never been done in Canada, nor in bedded salt deposits anywhere, though suitable strata exist in many provinces (AB. SK, MN, ON, NB, NS). Storage is needed for grid management on a diurnal basis, and large-scale storage for days, even a week, will allow much more large-scale integration of wind and solar power into existing grids. CAES can provide grid-scale (GW scale) ancillary services such as spinning reserves, up- and down-ramping stabilization for load leveling and general storage for periods perhaps as long as 5-10 days. I am working with Mechanical and Electrical Engineers in a long-term research project intended to advance CAES. Novel geomechanics aspects include long-term impact of cyclic loads on a creeping material, the effect of air pressurization on the stability of the non-salt roof rocks, and thermal effects related to pressure changes on the caverns. New cavern design methods (long horizontal cylinder) are needed for bedded salt of modest thickness, and the dissolutioning of such a cavern is a novel idea that has yet to be achieved in practice, yet will be valuable in geological environments such as Ontario.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) exploit lower-temperature deep heat resources, either heat from liquids or from warm rocks. Sufficient warm liquids are available in limited parts of Canada, and nowhere east of Saskatchewan. EGS in 80% of Canada requires deep drilling, hydraulic fracturing for interwell communication, and fluid recirculation. Economics dictate that the heat should be used as much as possible, though some power can be extracted by special low temperature generators. Heat is a critical life need north of 60°, currently power and heat in most northern communities comes from diesel. EGS can decarbonize much of northern energy needs, but implementation and optimization requires sophisticated geomechanics design and predictive models. I believe that developing this technology, combine with heat storage at great depth, will be a key aspect of Canada's remote energy sources, especially in arctic regions where sun and wind are absent for prolonged periods.