Earth Battery

This article elaborates the features of Multi-Fluid/CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG) energy storage system. This system provides utility-scale diurnal and seasonal energy storage and dispatchable power, while permanently sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial-scale fossil-energy power plants. Operationally, a Multi-Fluid/CPG system is radically different from traditional power plants or energy storage systems, such as pumped hydroelectric. Most of the system resides below the ground surface, consisting of horizontal injection and production wells arrayed in concentric rings that could be five miles or more across. This ring configuration is used to pressurize and confine CO2 in the region in the center of the array and to pressurize brine between the outer two rings. Because the Multi-Fluid/CPG system relies on the injection of carbon dioxide, the cost of sequestration is turned into an operational investment. Just as enhanced oil recovery has made geological CO2 sequestration economically viable in the petroleum industry. Multi-Fluid/CPG can make it profitable to lock away CO2 that would otherwise be emitted.