Dr. Jonathan Ogland-Hand

Energy Systems Analyst | Post-Doctoral Associate

Mailing Address

Geothermal Energy & Geofluids

Institute of Geophysics

NO F 61

Sonneggstrasse 5

CH-8092 Zurich Switzerland

Google Scholar Profile

Contact

Phone	+41 44 633 27 51
Email	johand(at)ethz.ch

Administration

Dominique Ballarin Dolfin
Phone	+41 44 632 3465
Email	ballarin(at)ethz.ch

Publications

[Go to Proceedings Refereed] [Go to Proceedings Non-Refereed] [Go to Theses]

Underlined names are links to current or past GEG members

REFEREED PUBLICATIONS IN JOURNALS

Birdsell, D. T., B.M. Adams, P. Deb, J.D. Ogland-Hand, J.M. Bielicki, M.R. Fleming, and M.O. Saar, Analytical solutions to evaluate the geothermal energy generation potential from sedimentary-basin reservoirs, Geothermics, 116, pp. 102843, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2023.102843 [Download] [View Abstract]Sedimentary basins are attractive for geothermal development due to their ubiquitous presence, high permeability, and extensive lateral extent. Geothermal energy from sedimentary basins has mostly been used for direct heating purposes due to their relatively low temperatures, compared to conventional hydrothermal systems. However, there is an increasing interest in using sedimentary geothermal energy for electric power generation due to the advances in conversion technologies using binary cycles that allow electricity generation from reservoir temperatures as low as 80 °C. This work develops and implements analytical solutions for calculating reservoir impedance, reservoir heat depletion, and wellbore heat loss in sedimentary reservoirs that are laterally extensive, homogeneous, horizontally isotropic and have uniform thickness. Reservoir impedance and wellbore heat loss solutions are combined with a power cycle model to estimate the electricity generation potential. Results from the analytical solutions are in good agreement with numerically computed reservoir models. Our results suggest that wellbore heat loss can be neglected in many cases of electricity generation calculations, depending on the reservoir transmissivity. The reservoir heat depletion solution shows how reservoir temperature and useful lifetime behave as a function of flow rate, initial heat within the reservoir, and heat conduction from the surroundings to the reservoir. Overall, our results suggest that in an exploratory sedimentary geothermal field, these analytical solutions can provide reliable first order estimations without incurring intensive computational costs.

van Brummen, A.C., B.M. Adams, R. Wu, J.D. Ogland-Hand, and M.O. Saar, Using CO2-Plume Geothermal (CPG) Energy Technologies to Support Wind and Solar Power in Renewable-Heavy Electricity Systems, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition, 2, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rset.2022.100026 [Download] [View Abstract]CO2-Plume Geothermal (CPG) technologies are geothermal power systems that use geologically stored CO2 as the subsurface heat extraction fluid to generate renewable energy. CPG technologies can support variable wind and solar energy technologies by providing dispatchable power, while Flexible CPG (CPG- F) facilities can provide dispatchable power, energy storage, or both simultaneously. We present the first study investigating how CPG power plants and CPG-F facilities may operate as part of a renewable- heavy electricity system by integrating plant-level power plant models with systems-level optimization models. We use North Dakota, USA as a case study to demonstrate the potential of CPG to expand the geothermal resource base to locations not typically considered for geothermal power. We find that optimal system capacity for a solar-wind-CPG model can be up to 20 times greater than peak- demand. CPG-F facilities can reduce this modeled system capacity to just over 2 times peak demand by providing energy storage over both seasonal and short-term timescales. The operational flexibility of CPG-F facilities is further leveraged to bypass the ambient air temperature constraint of CPG power plants by storing energy at critical temperatures. Across all scenarios, a tax on CO2 emissions, on the order of hundreds of dollars per tonne, is required to financially justify using renewable energy over natural-gas power plants. Our findings suggest that CPG and CPG-F technologies may play a valuable role in future renewable-heavy electricity systems, and we propose a few recommendations to further study its integration potential.

Ogland-Hand, J.D., S.M. Cohen, R.M. Kammer, K.M. Ellett, M.O. Saar, and J.A. Bennett, The Importance of Modeling Carbon Dioxide Transportation and Geologic Storage in Energy System Planning Tools, Frontiers, 10/855105, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2022.855105 [Download] [View Abstract]Energy system planning tools suggest that the cost and feasibility of climate-stabilizing energy transitions are sensitive to the cost of CO2 capture and storage processes (CCS), but the representation of CO2 transportation and geologic storage in these tools is often simple or non-existent. We develop the capability of producing dynamic-reservoir-simulation-based geologic CO2 storage supply curves with the Sequestration of CO2 Tool (SCO2T) and use it with the ReEDS electric sector planning model to investigate the effects of CO2 transportation and geologic storage representation on energy system planning tool results. We use a locational case study of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region. Our results suggest that the cost of geologic CO2 storage may be as low as $3/tCO2 and that site-level assumptions may affect this cost by several dollars per tonne. At the grid level, the cost of geologic CO2 storage has generally smaller effects compared to other assumptions (e.g., natural gas price), but small variations in this cost can change results (e.g., capacity deployment decisions) when policy renders CCS marginally competitive. The cost of CO2 transportation generally affects the location of geologic CO2 storage investment more than the quantity of CO2 captured or the location of electricity generation investment. We conclude with a few recommendations for future energy system researchers when modeling CCS. For example, assuming a cost for geologic CO2 storage (e.g., $5/tCO2) may be less consequential compared to assuming free storage by excluding it from the model.

Fleming, M.R., B.M. Adams, J.D. Ogland-Hand, J.M. Bielicki, T.H. Kuehn, and M.O. Saar, Flexible CO2-Plume Geothermal (CPG-F): Using Geologically Stored CO2 to Provide Dispatchable Power and Energy Storage, Energy Conversion and Management, 253/115082, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2021.115082 [Download] [View Abstract]CO2-Plume Geothermal (CPG) power plants can use geologically stored CO2 to generate electricity. In this study, a Flexible CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG-F) facility is introduced, which can use geologically stored CO2 to provide dispatchable power, energy storage, or both dispatchable power and energy storage simultaneously—providing baseload power with dispatchable storage for demand response. It is found that a CPG-F facility can deliver more power than a CPG power plant, but with less daily energy production. For example, the CPG-F facility produces 7.2 MWe for 8 hours (8h-16h duty cycle), which is 190% greater than power supplied from a CPG power plant, but the daily energy decreased by 61% from 60 MWe-h to 23 MWe-h. A CPG-F facility, designed for varying durations of energy storage, has a 70% higher capital cost than a CPG power plant, but costs 4% to 27% more than most CPG-F facilities, designed for a specific duration, while producing 90% to 310% more power than a CPG power plant. A CPG-F facility, designed to switch from providing 100% dispatchable power to 100% energy storage, only costs 3% more than a CPG-F facility, designed only for energy storage.

Ogland-Hand, J., J. Bielicki, B. Adams, E. Nelson, T. Buscheck, M.O. Saar, and R. Sioshansi, The Value of CO2-Bulk Energy Storage with Wind in Transmission-Constrained Electricity Systems, Energy Conversion and Management, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2020.113548 [Download] [View Abstract]High-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission infrastructure can transmit electricity from regions with high-quality variable wind and solar resources to those with high electricity demand. In these situations, bulk energy storage (BES) could beneficially increase the utilization of HVDC transmission capacity. Here, we investigate that benefit for an emerging BES approach that uses geologically stored CO2 and sedimentary basin geothermal resources to time-shift variable electricity production. For a realistic case study of a 1 GW wind farm in Eastern Wyoming selling electricity to Los Angeles, California (U.S.A.), our results suggest that a generic CO2-BES design can increase the utilization of the HVDC transmission capacity, thereby increasing total revenue across combinations of electricity prices, wind conditions, and geothermal heat depletion. The CO2-BES facility could extract geothermal heat, dispatch geothermally generated electricity, and time-shift wind-generated electricity. With CO2-BES, total revenue always increases and the optimal HVDC transmission capacity increases in some combinations. To be profitable, the facility needs a modest $7.78/tCO2 to $10.20/tCO2, because its cost exceeds the increase in revenue. This last result highlights the need for further research to understand how to design a CO2-BES facility that is tailored to the geologic setting and its intended role in the energy system.

Middleton, R, J Ogland-Hand, B Chen, J Bielicki, K Ellet, D Harp, and R Kammer, Identifying Geologic Characteristics and Operational Decisions to Meet Global Carbon Sequestration Goals, Energy and Environmental Science, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee02488k [Download]

Middleton, R, B Chen, D Harp, R Kammer, J Ogland-Hand, J Bielicki, A Clarens, R Currier, K Ellett, and et al., Great SCO2T! Rapid Tool for Carbon Sequestration Science, Engineering, and Economics, Applied Computing and Geosciences, 7, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acags.2020.100035 [Download] [View Abstract]CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology is likely to be widely deployed in the coming decades in response to major climate and economics drivers: CCS is part of every clean energy pathway that limits global warming to 2C or less and receives significant CO2 tax credits in the United States. These drivers are likely to stimulate the capture, transport, and storage of hundreds of millions or billions of tonnes of CO2 annually. A key part of the CCS puzzle will be identifying and characterizing suitable storage sites for vast amounts of CO2. We introduce a new software tool called SCO2T (Sequestration of CO2 Tool, pronounced “Scott”), a dynamic CO2 injection and storage model, to rapidly characterize saline storage reservoirs. The tool is designed to rapidly screen hundreds of thousands of reservoirs, perform sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, and link sequestration engineering (injection rates, reservoir capacities, plume dimensions) to sequestration economics (costs constructed from around 70 separate economic inputs). We describe the novel science developments supporting SCO2T including a new approach to estimating CO2 injection rates and CO2 plume dimensions as well as key advances linking sequestration engineering with economics. We perform a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of geology parameter combinations—including formation depth, thickness, permeability, porosity, and temperature—to understand the impact on carbon sequestration. Through the sensitivity analysis, we show that increasing depth and permeability both can lead to increased CO2 injection rates, increased storage potential, and reduced costs, while increasing porosity reduces costs without impacting the injection rate (CO2 is injected at a constant pressure in all cases) by increasing the reservoir capacity. Through uncertainty analysis—where formation thickness, permeability, and porosity are randomly sampled—we show that final sequestration costs are normally distributed with upper bound costs around 50% higher than the lower bound costs. While site selection decisions will ultimately require detailed site characterization and permitting, SCO2T provides an inexpensive dynamic screening tool that can help prioritize projects based on the complex interplay of reservoir, infrastructure (e.g., proximity to pipelines), and other (e.g., land use, legal) constraints on the suitability of certain regions for CCS.

Venstrom, L, J Yager, T Vervynckt, J Ogland-Hand, and S Nudehi, Measurement of the Natural Convection Heat Transfer in a Magnesium Oxide Electrolytic Cell Concept, Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications, 12/4, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4046605 [Download] [View Abstract]The rate of heat transfer by natural convection between the wall and electrolyte of an elec- trolytic cell that produces magnesium (Mg) from magnesium oxide (MgO) at temperatures near 1000 °C in a molten fluoride salt electrolyte is presented. An experimental model of the cell was developed that enabled measurements of the heat transfer in the absence of elec- trolysis and at temperatures less than 100 °C over ranges of Rayleigh numbers from 1 x 10−7 to 7 × 10−8 and Prandtl numbers from 2 to 6200, ranges that include those anticipated in the operation of the MgO electrolytic cell. The model avoids the substantial experimental challenges associated with the high-temperature, corrosive molten salt to enable a conser- vative estimate of the heat transfer at a lower cost and greater accuracy than would other- wise be possible. The results are correlated by the expression Nu = 0.412Ra0.23Pr0.15 with Nusselt numbers spanning 30–80. The application of the correlation shows that the heat transfer between the cell wall and the molten fluoride electrolyte at ≈1000 °C is character- ized by convection coefficients between 100 and 600 W/m2-K and is fast enough to enable heat fluxes up to 10 W/cm2 without compromising the structural integrity of the steel cell wall.

Ogland-Hand, J.D., J.M. Bielicki, Y. Wang, B.M. Adams, T.A. Buscheck, and M.O. Saar, The value of bulk energy storage for reducing CO2 emissions and water requirements from regional electricity systems., Energy Conversion and Management, 181, pp. 674-685, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.12.019 [Download] [View Abstract]The implementation of bulk energy storage (BES) technologies can help to achieve higher penetration and utilization of variable renewable energy technologies (e.g., wind and solar), but it can also alter the dispatch order in regional electricity systems in other ways. These changes to the dispatch order affect the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is emitted to the atmosphere and the amount of total water that is required by the electricity generating facilities. In a case study of the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas system, we separately investigated the value that three BES technologies (CO2- Geothermal Bulk Energy Storage, Compressed Air Energy Storage, Pumped Hydro Energy Storage) could have for reducing system-wide CO2 emissions and water requirements. In addition to increasing the utilization of wind power capacity, the dispatch of BES also led to an increase in the utilization of natural gas power capacity and of coal power capacity, and a decrease in the utilization of nuclear power capacity, depending on the character of the net load, the CO2 price, the water price, and the BES technology. These changes to the dispatch order provided positive value (e.g., increase in natural gas generally reduced CO2 emissions; decrease in nuclear utilization always decreased water requirements) or negative value (e.g., increase in coal generally increased CO2 emissions; increase in natural gas sometimes increased water requirements) to the regional electricity system. We also found that these values to the system can be greater than the cost of operating the BES facility. At present, there are mechanisms to compensate BES facilities for ancillary grid services, and our results suggest that similar mechanisms could be enacted to compensate BES facilities for their contribution to the environmental sustainability of the system.

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PROCEEDINGS NON-REFEREED

Middleton, R, J Bielicki, B Chen, K Ellett, D Harp, R Kammer, and J Ogland-Hand, Great SCO2T! Rapid Tool for Geologic Carbon Sequestration Science, Engineering, and Economics, Proceedings 15th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies GHGT-15, 2021.

Ogland-Hand, J, J Bielicki, B Adams, T Buscheck, and M Saar, Using Sedimentary Basin Geothermal Resources to Provide Long-Duration Energy Storage, Proceedings World Geothermal Congress, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000467595 [Download]

Adams, B.M., M.O. Saar, J.M. Bielicki, J.D. Ogland-Hand, and M.R. Fleming, Using Geologically Sequestered CO2 to Generate and Store Geothermal Electricity: CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG), Applied Energy Symposium: MIT A+B August 12-14, 2020, Cambridge, USA, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000444911 [Download] [View Abstract]CO2 Plume Geothermal (CPG) is a carbon neutral renewable electricity generation technology where geologic CO2 is circulated to the surface to directly generate power and then is reinjected into the deep subsurface. In contrast to traditional water geothermal power generation with an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), CPG has fewer system inefficiencies and benefits from the lower viscosity of subsurface CO2 which allows power generation at shallower depths, lower temperatures, and lower reservoir transmissivities.

Ogland-Hand, J.D., J.M. Bielicki, E.S. Nelson, B.M. Adams, T.A. Buscheck, M.O. Saar, and R. Sioshansi, Effects of Bulk Energy Storage in Sedimentary Basin Geothermal Resources on Transmission Constrained Electricity Systems , 43rd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, February 12-14, 2018, 2018. [View Abstract]Sedimentary basin geothermal resources and carbon dioxide (CO2) can be used for bulk energy storage (CO2-BES), which could reduce the capacity, and thus cost, of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission infrastructure needed to connect high quality wind resources to distant load centers. In this study, we simulated CO2-BES operation in the Minnelusa Aquifer in eastern Wyoming and used those results in an optimization model to determine the impact that CO2-BES could have on the revenue of a wind farm that sells electricity to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) market under varying HVDC transmission capacity scenarios. We found that the CO2-BES facility can dispatch more electricity than was previously stored because of the geothermal energy input. While CO2-BES performance degrades because of geothermal resource depletion, our results suggest that a CO2-BES facility could increase revenue from electricity sales throughout its lifetime by (1) increasing the utilization of HVDC transmission capacity, and (2) enabling arbitrage of the electricity prices in the CAISO market. In some cases, adding CO2-BES can provide more revenue with less HVDC transmission capacity.

Fleming, M.R., B.M. Adams, J.B. Randolph, J.D. Ogland-Hand, T.H. Kuehn, T.A. Buscheck, J.M. Bielicki, and M.O. Saar, High efficiency and large-scale subsurface energy storage with CO2., 43rd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, February 12-14, 2018., 2018. https://doi.org/https://pangea.stanford.edu/ERE/pdf/IGAstandard/SGW/2018/Fleming.pdf [Download] [View Abstract]Storing large amounts of intermittently produced solar or wind power for later, when there is a lack of sunlight or wind, is one of society’s biggest challenges when attempting to decarbonize energy systems. Traditional energy storage technologies tend to suffer from relatively low efficiencies, severe environmental concerns, and limited scale both in capacity and time. Subsurface energy storage can solve the drawbacks of many other energy storage approaches, as it can be large scale in capacity and time, environmentally benign, and highly efficient. When CO2 is used as the (pressure) energy storage medium in reservoirs underneath caprocks at depths of at least ~1 km (to ensure the CO2 is in its supercritical state), the energy generated after the energy storage operation can be greater than the energy stored. This is possible if reservoir temperatures and CO2 storage durations combine to result in more geothermal energy input into the CO2 at depth than what the CO2 pumps at the surface (and other machinery) consume. Such subsurface energy storage is typically also large scale in capacity (due to typical reservoir sizes, potentially enabling storing excess power from a substantial portion of the power grid) and in time (even enabling seasonal energy storage). Here, we present subsurface electricity energy storage with supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) called CO2-Plume Geothermal Energy Storage (CPGES) and discuss the system’s performance, as well as its advantages and disadvantages, compared to other energy storage options. Our investigated system consists of a deep and a shallow reservoir, where excess electricity from the grid is stored by producing CO2 from the shallow reservoir and injecting it into the deep reservoir, storing the energy in the form of pressure and heat. When energy is needed, the geothermally heated CO2 is produced from the deep reservoir and injected into the shallow reservoir, passing through a power generation system along the way. Thus, the shallow reservoir takes the place of a storage tank at the surface. The shallow reservoir well system is a huff-and-puff system to store the CO2 with as few heat and pressure losses as possible, whereas the deep reservoir has an injection and a production well, so the CO2 can extract heat as it passes through. We find that both the diurnal (daily) and seasonal (6 months) CPGES systems generate more electricity to the power grid than they store from it. The diurnal system has a ratio of generated electricity to stored electricity (called the Energy Storage Ratio) between 2.93 and 1.95. Similarly, the seasonal system has an energy storage ratio between 1.55 and 1.05, depending on operational strategy. The energy storage ratio decreases with duration due to the pump power needed to overcome the increasing reservoir pressures as CO2 is stored.

Bielicki, J.M., B.M. Adams, H. Choi, B. Jamiyansuren, M.O. Saar, S.J. Taff, T.A. Buscheck, and J.D. Ogland-Hand, Sedimentary basin geothermal resource for cost-effective generation of renewable electricity from sequestered carbon dioxide., 41st Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, February 22-24, 2016., 2016. [View Abstract]We investigated the efficacy of generating electricity using renewable geothermal heat that is extracted by CO2 that is sequestered in sedimentary basins, a process described as CO2 -Plume Geothermal (CPG) energy production. We developed an integrated systems model that combines power plant performance modeling, reservoir modeling, and the economic costs of a CPG power plant and a CO2 storage operation in order to estimate the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The integrated systems model is based on inverted fivespot injection patterns that are common in CO2-enhanced oil recovery operations. Our integrated systems model allows for these patterns to be coupled together, so that the CO2 that is extracted by a production well can be composed of portions of the CO2 that was injected in the four neighboring injection wells. We determined the diameter of the individual wells and the size coupled inverted fivespot well patterns that most effectively used the physical and economic economies of scale for the coupled reservoir and power plant. We found that substantial amounts of power, on the order of hundreds of megawatts, can be produced as the size of the injection pattern increases, and that the estimated LCOE decreases as these patterns expand. Given the appropriate combination of depth, geothermal gradient, and permeability, CPG power plants can have LCOEs that are competitive with other unsubsidized sources of electricity.