Facilitating CCS Business Planning by Extending the Functionality of the SimCCS Integrated System Model
The application of integrated system models for evaluating carbon capture and storage technology has expanded steadily over the past few years. To date, such models have focused largely on hypothetical scenarios of complex source-sink matching involving numerous large-scale CO 2 emitters, and high-volume, continuous reservoirs such as deep saline formations to function as geologic sinks for carbon storage. Though these models have provided unique insight on the potential costs and feasibility of deploying complex networks of integrated infrastructure, there remains a pressing need to translate such insight to the business community if this technology is to ever achieve a truly meaningful impact in greenhouse gas mitigation. Here, we present a new integrated system modelling tool termed SimCCUS aimed at providing crucial decision support for businesses by extending the functionality of a previously developed model called SimCCS. The primary innovation of the SimCCUS tool development is the incorporation of stacked geological reservoir systems with explicit consideration of processes and costs associated with the operation of multiple CO 2 utilization and storage targets from a single geographic location. In such locations provide significant efficiencies through economies of scale, effectively minimizing CO 2 storage costs while simultaneously maximizing revenue streams via the utilization of CO 2 as a commodity for enhanced hydrocarbon recovery.