The impact of time-varying CO2 injection rate on large scale storage in the UK Bunter Sandstone

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is expected to play a key role in meeting targets set by the Paris Agreement and for meeting legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets set within the UK (Energy and Climate Change Committee, 2016). Energy systems models have been essential in identifying the importance of CCS but they neglect to impose constraints on the availability and use of geologic CO2 storage reservoirs. In this work we analyse reservoir performance sensitivities to varying CO2 storage demand for three sets of injection scenarios designed to encompass the UK's future low carbon energy market. We use the ECLIPSE reservoir simulator and a model of part of the Southern North Sea Bunter Sandstone saline aquifer. From a first set of injection scenarios we find that varying amplitude and frequency of injection on a multi-year basis has little effect on reservoir pressure response and plume migration. Injectivity varies with site location due to variations in depth and regional permeability. In a second set of injection scenarios, we show that with envisioned UK storage demand levels for a large coal fired power plant, it makes no difference to reservoir response whether all injection sites are deployed upfront or gradually as demand increases. Meanwhile, there may be an advantage to deploying infrastructure in deep sites first in order to meet higher demand later. However, deep-site deployment will incur higher upfront cost than shallow-site deployment. In a third set of injection scenarios, we show that starting injection at a high rate with ramping down, a low rate with ramping up or at a constant rate makes little difference to the overall injectivity of the reservoir. Therefore, such variability is not essential to represent CO2 storage in energy systems models resolving plume and pressure evolution over decadal timescales.