Recent developments as mandated by the governments in the U.S. and Canada for the utility sector is causing the closure of several aging and out of date coal-fired and nuclear plants.  New coal and uranium plants are also being limited by regulators, shareholders, local opposition groups and in the case of nuclear declining sources of uranium. The implementation of additional gas-fired, wind or solar plants is ongoing but cannot provide an immediate fix as licensing, siting and building takes time.  There are potentially over 5 million abandoned, shut-in, flaring or prematurely plugged gas wells and fields in all of the petroleum productive basins in the United States and Canada that are creating a methane pollution problem. Many states are now attempting to address these wells both from the plugging liability, and the problem from leaking methane pollution into the atmosphere. While eventually all of these wells will need to be plugged, they represent a source of natural gas that can be converted to generate electricity. This source of electricity can be part of a stop-gap measure to offset the loss of coal-fired and nuclear power plants.  In addition, gas wells produce around the clock and are not subject to changes in wind or the need for sunlight. The natural gas-fired turbine generators which are required are available and are being used on a case-by-case basis already in the petroleum industry. The difficulties of implementing a larger strategy of capturing these stranded or flared assets are based on the location of the asset to power lines, proximity to market, coordinating with landowners, operators and with regulators. This presentation will discuss several aspects of this promising source of energy.   <br/>

Stranded and shut-in gas provides a stop-gap measure for electrical demand

255th National Meeting (2018)

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