Postponed: PGK excursion: Zuidwending and Assen core store

Dear PGK member and field trip participant,

In view of the recent developments regarding Covid-19 in the Netherlands, the PGK will delay the planned excursion of Friday 27 March till a later date this year.

Please let me find a good date with the Zuidwending and the NAM core store facilities once it becomes clear when the situation will normalize again.

I trust in your understanding of the situation.

Best regards,

Ben Dewever and Marianne van Unen

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PGK will move its focus to the north of The Netherlands, with a one-day excursion to Groningen and Drenthe. The topic of the day will be Energy storage.

Outline of the trip:

Energy storage can play a pivoting role in the current and future energy transition by adding flexibility to the sustainable energy system. Storage of energy needs to be deployed at both small-scale (low power and fast response solutions) and large-scale (long-term balancing for grids). Within this excursion the main focus will be on large-scale energy storage in the subsurface. The key benefits of large-scale energy storage is that it provides flexible bulk power management and offers essential services to society by strategic energy reserves and balancing options for seasonal variations.

The excursion approaches subsurface energy storage from two angles. In the morning, we will visit the gas storage facility in Zuidwending (EnergyStock/Gasunie) where green light has been given for a pilot project power-to-gas. Solar panels generate electricity which is being converted into hydrogen and can subsequently be stored in salt caverns. We will get an explanation on the ongoing projects and will do a visit of the site.

In the afternoon, we approach the problem slightly different with an interactive core workshop in the NAM core store in Assen. During this session there will be the opportunity to do observations in small groups on cores from three very different depositional environments from the Dutch subsurface. The workshop will focus on the opportunities, potential issues and key risks in the context of energy storage in different types of reservoirs. We will close out with a plenary discussion and the option for technical questions to a number of experts in this field at the NAM.

The transport for the field trip will be by bus, which will leave from and returns to Utrecht Centraal (start and end point of the excursion). Details on the program are outlined below in the agenda for the day.

Agenda:
07:30:                Departure Utrecht Centraal
07:30 – 10:00: Transfer Zuidwending storage facility
10:00 – 11:00: Zuidwending storage facility – Welcome, coffee & presentation
11:00 – 12:00: Zuidwending storage facility – tour
12:00 – 12:30: Transfer Zuidwending storage facility – Assen core store
12:30 – 13:15:  Lunch Assen (check possibility to do this in the core store)
13:15 – 14:00: Introduction to core viewing and energy storage subsurface themes
14:00 – 15:00: Core workshop part I & II
15:00 – 15:15:  Coffee Break
15:15 – 15:45:  Core workshop part III
15:45 – 16:30: Plenary discussion and close-out
16:45:                Departure from Assen core store to Utrecht Centraal (ETA 19:00)