[en] Underground pumped storage hydropower (UPSH) using abandoned mines is an alternative system to manage electricity production in flat regions. Water from an underground reservoir is pumped to a surface reservoir to store electricity in the form of potential energy. Later, water is discharged through turbines into the underground reservoir to produce electricity when demand increases. During this operation, the water hydrochemistry continuously evolves. It varies in order to reach chemical equilibrium with the atmosphere (in the surface reservoir) and with the surrounding porous medium and groundwater (in the underground reservoir). The hydrochemical variations may lead to reactions in the reservoirs and in the surrounding porous medium, causing potentially
negative consequences for the environment and the system efficiency, especially when pyrite is present in the surrounding porous medium. In this case, pyrite oxidation leads to a decrease in pH and the precipitation of goethite or schwertmannite in the surface reservoir. The decrease in pH is mitigated when calcite is present in the porous medium. However, other concerns may arise, such as slight increases in pH, the precipitation of ferrihydrite and calcite in the surface reservoir, and the oxidation of pyrite and dissolution of calcite in the surrounding porous medium. Understanding the pH variations and the precipitation/dissolution of minerals is of paramount importance in terms of the environmental impacts and system efficiency. For this reason, this work investigates the main hydrochemical changes and their associated consequences when abandoned deep mines are used for UPSH by means of numerical modelling. The main objective is to highlight the importance of considering hydrochemical aspects when designing future UPSH plants.
Research center :
UEE - Urban and Environmental Engineering - ULiège
Disciplines :
Geological, petroleum & mining engineering
Author, co-author :
Pujades, Estanis; UFZ – Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany > Department of Computational Hydrosystems
Jurado, Anna; Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany > Institute for Groundwater Management
Orban, Philippe ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > Hydrogéologie & Géologie de l'environnement
Ayora, Carlos; CSIC, Barcelona, Spain > Institute of Environmental Assessment & Water Research (IDAEA) > GHS
Poulain, Angélique; Université de Mons - UMONS > Geology and Applied Geology
Goderniaux, Pascal; Université de Mons - UMONS > Geology and Applied Geology
Brouyère, Serge ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > Hydrogéologie & Géologie de l'environnement
Dassargues, Alain ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département ArGEnCo > Hydrogéologie & Géologie de l'environnement
Language :
English
Title :
Hydrochemical changes induced by underground pumped storage hydropower and their associated impacts
FP7 - 600405 - BEIPD - Be International Post-Doc - Euregio and Greater Region
Name of the research project :
SMARTWATER
Funders :
University of Liège and the EU through the Marie Curie BeIPD-COFUND postdoctoral fellowship programme (2014-2016 and 2015-2017 “Fellows from FP7-MSCA-COFUND, 600405” Public Service of Wallonia – Department of Energy and Sustainable Building through the Smartwater project CE - Commission Européenne [BE]
Akcil, A., Koldas, S., Acid Mine Drainage (AMD): causes, treatment and case studies. Journal of Cleaner Production, Improving Environmental, Economic and Ethical Performance in the Mining Industry. Part 2. Life cycle and process analysis and technical issuesImproving Environmental, Economic and Ethical Performance in the Mining Industry. Part 2. Life cycle and process analysis and technical issues 14 (2006), 1139–1145, 10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.09.006.
Alvarado, R., Niemann, A., Wortberg, T., 2016. Underground Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity using existing Coal Mining Infrastructure. In: E-proceedings of the 36th IAHR World Congress.
Antoniou, A., Smits, F., Stuyfzand, P., Quality assessment of deep-well recharge applications in the Netherlands. Water Sci. Technol. Water Supply 17:5 (2017), 1201–1211.
Athari, M.H., Ardehali, M.M., Operational performance of energy storage as function of electricity prices for on-grid hybrid renewable energy system by optimized fuzzy logic controller. Renew. Energy 85 (2016), 890–902, 10.1016/j.renene.2015.07.055.
Banks, D., Younger, P.L., Arnesen, R.-T., Iversen, E.R., Banks, S.B., Mine-water chemistry: the good, the bad and the ugly. Environ. Geol. 32 (1997), 157–174, 10.1007/s002540050204.
Barker, J.L., Hassan, M.M., Sultana, S., Ahmed, K.M., Robinson, C.E., Numerical evaluation of community-scale aquifer storage, transfer and recovery technology: a case study from coastal Bangladesh. J. Hydrol. 540 (2016), 861–872.
Barnes, F.S., Levine, J.G., Large Energy Storage Systems Handbook [WWW Document]. 2011, CRC Press URL https://www.crcpress.com/Large-Energy-Storage-Systems-Handbook/Barnes-Levine/p/book/9781420086003 (accessed 3.12.17).
Bigham, J.M., Nordstrom, D.K., Iron and Aluminum Hydroxysulfates from Acid Sulfate Waters. Rev. Mineral. Geochem. 40 (2000), 351–403, 10.2138/rmg.2000.40.7.
Bodeux, S., Pujades, E., Orban, P., Brouyère, S., Dassargues, A., Interactions between groundwater and the cavity of an old slate mine used as lower reservoir of an UPSH (Underground Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity): a modelling approach. Eng. Geol. 217 (2017), 71–80, 10.1016/j.enggeo.2016.12.007.
Campaner, V.P., Luiz-Silva, W., Machado, W., Geochemistry of acid mine drainage from a coal mining area and processes controlling metal attenuation in stream waters, southern Brazil. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 86:2 (2014), 539–554.
Delfanti, M., Falabretti, D., Merlo, M., Energy storage for PV power plant dispatching. Renew. Energy 80 (2015), 61–72, 10.1016/j.renene.2015.01.047.
European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), 2016. Underground Pumped hydro storage. EERA Joint Program SP4 – Mechanical Storage. Fact Sheet x. https://eera-es.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/EERA_Factsheet_Underground-Pumped-Hydro-Energy-Storage_not-final.pdf.
EPRI, Electric Energy Storage Technology Options: A White Paper Primer on Applications, Costs, and Benefits. 2010, Palo Alto, CA, 1020676.
Faimon, J., Ličbinská, M., Zajíček, P., Sracek, O., Partial pressures of CO2 in epikarstic zone deduced from hydrogeochemistry of permanent drips, the Moravian Karst, Czech Republic. Acta Carsologica, 41, 2012, 10.3986/ac.v41i1.47.
Gebretsadik, Y., Fant, C., Strzepek, K., Arndt, C., Optimized reservoir operation model of regional wind and hydro power integration case study: Zambezi basin and South Africa. Appl. Energy 161 (2016), 574–582, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.09.077.
Giordano, N., Comina, C., Mandrone, G., Cagni, A., Borehole thermal energy storage (BTES). First results from the injection phase of a living lab in Torino (NW Italy). Renew. Energy 86 (2016), 993–1008, 10.1016/j.renene.2015.08.052.
Hadjipaschalis, I., Poullikkas, A., Efthimiou, V., Overview of current and future energy storage technologies for electric power applications. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 13 (2009), 1513–1522, 10.1016/j.rser.2008.09.028.
Hu, Y., Bie, Z., Ding, T., Lin, Y., An NSGA-II based multi-objective optimization for combined gas and electricity network expansion planning. Appl. Energy 167 (2016), 280–293, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.148.
Hustrulid, W.A., Hustrulid, W.A., Bullock, R.C. eds., 2001. Underground mining methods: engineering fundamentals and international case studies. SME.
James L. Palandri, Yousif K. Kharaka, 2004. A compilation of rate parameters of water-mineral interaction kinetics for application to geochemical modeling. USGS, Open File Report (2004-1068), p. 64.
Johnson, J.S., Baker, L.A., Fox, P., Geochemical transformations during artificial groundwater recharge: soil–water interactions of inorganic constituents. Water Res. 33:1 (1999), 196–206.
Kapil, N., Bhattacharyya, K.G., A comparison of neutralization efficiency of chemicals with respect to acidic Kopili River water. Appl. Water Sci., 1–6, 2016, 10.1007/s13201-016-0391-6.
Khan, S.Y., Davidson, I., Underground Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage in South Africa using Aquifers and Existing Infrastructure [WWW Document]. 2016, ResearchGate URL https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308780409_Underground_Pumped_Hydroelectric_Energy_Storage_in_South_Africa_using_Aquifers_and_Existing_Infrastructure (accessed 3.12.17).
Kipp, K., 1987. HST3D; a Computer Code for Simulation of Heat and Solute Transport in Three-dimensional Ground-water Flow Systems. Government Documents.
Kipp, K.L., 1997. Guideto the Revised Heat and Solute Transport Simulator: HST3D Version 2.
Koch, D.L., Iowa Geology 1987. 1987, Geological Survey Bureau / Iowa Deparment of Natural Resources, Iowa.
Kucukali, S., Finding the most suitable existing hydropower reservoirs for the development of pumped-storage schemes: An integrated approach. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 37 (2014), 502–508, 10.1016/j.rser.2014.05.052.
Luick, H., Niemann, A., Perau, E., Schreiber, U., 2012. Coalmines as Underground Pumped Storage Power Plants (UPP) - A Contribution to a Sustainable Energy Supply? Presented at the EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, p. 4205.
Mason, I.G., Comparative impacts of wind and photovoltaic generation on energy storage for small islanded electricity systems. Renew. Energy 80 (2015), 793–805, 10.1016/j.renene.2015.02.040.
Menéndez, J., Loredo, J., Fernandez, J. M., Galdo, M., 2017. Underground pumped-storage hydro power plants with mine water in abandoned coal mines in northern Spain. – In: Wolkersdorfer, C.; Sartz, L.; Sillanpää, M. & Häkkinen, A.: Mine Water & Circular Economy (Vol I). – pp. 6–14; Lappeenranta, Finland (Lappeenranta University of Technology).
Mileva, A., Johnston, J., Nelson, J.H., Kammen, D.M., Power system balancing for deep decarbonization of the electricity sector. Appl. Energy 162 (2016), 1001–1009, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.180.
Mueller, S.C., Sandner, P.G., Welpe, I.M., Monitoring innovation in electrochemical energy storage technologies: a patent-based approach. Appl. Energy 137 (2015), 537–544, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.06.082.
Okazaki, T., Shirai, Y., Nakamura, T., Concept study of wind power utilizing direct thermal energy conversion and thermal energy storage. Renew. Energy 83 (2015), 332–338, 10.1016/j.renene.2015.04.027.
Parkhurst, D.L., 1995. User's quide to PHREEQE—a computer program for speciation, reaction-path, advective transport, and inverse geochemical calculations. US Geological Survey WatereResources graphical user interface for the geochemical computer program Investigations Report.
Parkhurst, D.L., Appelo, C.A.J., 1999. User's guide to PHREEQC (Version 2): a computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations.
Parkhurst, D.L., Engesgaard, P., Kipp, K.L., 1995. Coupling the geochemical model PHREEQC with a 3D multi-component solute transport model. In: Presented at the Fifth Annual V.M. Goldschmidt Conference, Geochemical Society, Penn State University, University Park, USA.
Parkhurst, D.L., Kipp, K.L., 2002. Parallel processing for PHAST: a three-dimensional reactive-transport simulator. In: S. Majid Hassanizadeh, R.J.S., William G. Gray, George F. Pinder (Ed.), Developments in Water Science, Computational Methods in Water ResourcesProceedings of the XIVth International Conference on Computational Methods in Water Resources (CMWR XIV). Elsevier, pp. 711–718. doi:10.1016/S0167-5648(02)80128-9.
Parkhurst, D.L., Kipp, K.L., Charlton, S.R., 2010. PHAST Version 2—A Program for Simulating Groundwater Flow, Solute Transport, and Multicomponent Geochemical Reactions: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods 6–A35.
Plummer, L.N., Wigley, T.M.L., Parkhurst, D.L., The kinetics of calcite dissolution in CO 2 -water systems at 5 degrees to 60 degrees C and 0.0 to 1.0 atm CO 2. Am. J. Sci. 278 (1978), 179–216, 10.2475/ajs.278.2.179.
Poulain, A., goderniaux, P., de dreuzy, J.-R., 2016. Study of groundwater-quarry interactions in the context of energy storage systems. In: Presented at the EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, p. 9055.
Price, W.A., Morin, K., Hutt, N., 1997b. Guidelines for the Prediction of Acid Rock Drainage and Metal Leaching for Mines in British Columbia: Part II - Recommended Procedures for Static and Kinetic Testing. In: Proc. 4th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, Vancouver, BC, pp. 15–30.
Pujades, E., Orban, P., Bodeux, S., Archambeau, P., Erpicum, S., Dassargues, A., Underground pumped storage hydropower plants using open pit mines: how do groundwater exchanges influence the efficiency?. Appl. Energy 190 (2017), 135–146, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.093.
Pujades, E., Orban, P., Jurado, A., Ayora, C., Brouyère, S., Dassargues, A. 2017. Water chemical evolution in Underground Pumped Storage Hydropower plants and induced consequences. Energy Procedia. Accepted.
Pujades, E., Willems, T., Bodeux, S., Orban, P., Dassargues, A., Underground pumped storage hydroelectricity using abandoned works (deep mines or open pits) and the impact on groundwater flow. Hydrogeol. J. 24 (2016), 1531–1546, 10.1007/s10040-016-1413-z.
Robb, G.A., Environmental Consequences of Coal Mine Closure. Geogr. J. 160 (1994), 33–40, 10.2307/3060139.
Sánchez-España, J., Yusta, I., Diez-Ercilla, M., Schwertmannite and hydrobasaluminite: a re-evaluation of their solubility and control on the iron and aluminium concentration in acidic pit lakes. Appl. Geochem. 26 (2011), 1752–1774, 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2011.06.020.
Sanz, E., Ayora, C., Carrera, J., Calcite dissolution by mixing waters: geochemical modeling and flow-through experiments. Geologica Acta 9 (2011), 67–77, 10.1344/105.000001652.
Severson, M.J., 2011. Preliminary Evaluation of Establishing an Underground Taconite Mine, to be Used Later as a Lower Reservoir in a Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Facility, on the Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota.
Sharma, P., Vyas, S., N, S.S., V, M.N., Rustagi, A., N, S., Ratnam, M., 2011. Acid mine discharge – challenges met in a hydro power project.
Sharma, S., Sack, A., Adams, J.P., Vesper, D.J., Capo, R.C., Hartsock, A., Edenborn, H.M., Isotopic evidence of enhanced carbonate dissolution at a coal mine drainage site in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA. Appl. Geochem. 29 (2013), 32–42.
Schlömer S., T. Bruckner, L. Fulton, E. Hertwich, A. McKinnon, D. Perczyk, J. Roy, R. Schaeffer, R. Sims, P. Smith, and R. Wiser, 2014: Annex III: Technology-specific cost and performance parameters. In: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
Spriet, J., 2014. A Feasibility study of pumped hydropower energy storage systems in underground cavities.
Steffen, B., Prospects for pumped-hydro storage in Germany. Energy Policy 45 (2012), 420–429, 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.02.052.
Sterpejkowicz-Wersocki, W., Problem of Clogging in Drainage Systems in the Examples of the Żur and Podgaje Dams. Arch. Hydro-Eng. Environ. Mech. 61 (2014), 183–192, 10.1515/heem-2015-0012.
Meyer, F., 2013. Storing wind energy underground. Publisher: FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibnz Institute for information infrastructure, Eggenstein Leopoldshafen, Germany. ISSN: 0937-8367.
Uddin, N., Asce, M., Preliminary design of an underground reservoir for pumped storage. Geotech. Geol. Eng. 21 (2003), 331–355, 10.1023/B:GEGE.0000006058.79137.e2.
Van Rossum G., Drake, F.L., 2011. The Python Language Reference Manual. Network Theory Ltd.
Water Framework Directive, Water Framework Directive, 2000/60/EC. Eur. Commun. Off. J., L327.22.12.2000.
White, A.F., Brantley, S.L., Chemical weathering rates of silicate mienrals: an overview. Rev. Mineral. 31 (1995), 1–21.
Williamson, M.A., Rimstidt, J.D., The kinetics and electrochemical rate-determining step of aqueous pyrite oxidation. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 58:24 (1994), 5443–5454.
Winde, F., Kaiser, F., Erasmus, E., Exploring the use of deep level gold mines in South Africa for underground pumped hydroelectric energy storage schemes. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 78 (2017), 668–682.
Wong, I.H., An underground pumped storage scheme in the Bukit Timah Granite of Singapore. Tunn. Undergr. Space Technol. 11 (1996), 485–489, 10.1016/S0886-7798(96)00035-1.
Xu, K., Dai, G., Duan, Z., Xue, X., Hydrogeochemical evolution of an Ordovician limestone aquifer influenced by coal mining: a case study in the Hancheng mining area, China. Mine Water Environ., 2018, 1–11.
Zhang, N., Lu, X., McElroy, M.B., Nielsen, C.P., Chen, X., Deng, Y., Kang, C., Reducing curtailment of wind electricity in China by employing electric boilers for heat and pumped hydro for energy storage. Appl. Energy 184 (2016), 987–994, 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.147.
Zillmann, A., Perau, E., 2015. A conceptual analysis for an underground pumped storage plant in rock mass of the Ruhr region. Geotechnical Eng. Infrastructure Dev., pp. 3789–3794. doi:10.1680/ecsmge.60678.vol7.597.
