Program Domain

Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure

Gas sampling from a warm soda spring in Long Valley caldera (east moat), Mammoth Mountain, CA. (At left, D. Shuster, at right, B.M. Kennedy.)

Researchers in the Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure Program Domain are developing and applying scientific approaches to solving existing and emerging challenges of sustainability 'and resiliency' of subsurface energy utilization and important linkages to water, environment, energy infrastructure, and society.

Programs

Initiative

Water-Energy

Develop approaches for sustainable groundwater management and identification of new water resources including groundwater storage opportunities while reducing associated cost and energy demands and insuring water quality. Anticipate, assess, manage, and mitigate potential impacts of emerging energy technologies on water systems and quality.

Peter S. Nico psnico@lbl.gov 510-486-7118

Initiative

Critical Infrastructure

Develop recognized multidisciplinary science and engineering capabilities to address the Nation’s massive infrastructure challenges (energy facilities, industrial complexes, pipelines, levees, bridges, buildings). Contribute to the next generation of sustainable and resilient infrastructure with respect to natural phenomena and hazards such as earthquakes or climate change.

David McCallen dbmccallen@lbl.gov 510-486-7661

Initiative

Risk Assessment/System Analysis/Mitigation

Develop and apply science-based methodologies for analyzing and calculating hazards and risks across different subsurface energy applications while ensuring that related uncertainties are adequately quantified, and applying science based solutions to the mitigation of hazardous events when they do occur.

Jens Birkholzer jtbirkholzer@lbl.gov 510-486-7134

Initiative

Grid-Scale Subsurface Energy Storage

Understand and develop effective and affordable grid-scale energy storage in the deep subsurface, such as porous media compressed air energy storage, thermal energy storage, or hydrogen storage. Carry out research on capacity assessment, design of systems, performance analysis, assessment of risks, and specialized analysis of site-specific issues.

Curtis M. Oldenburg cmoldenburg@lbl.gov 510-486-7419

Background

Energy supply and use, including subsurface energy, are closely linked to water availability and quality, spanning multiple dimensions related to environment, infrastructure, society, and policy. In collaboration with other programs within the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA), the Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure Program Domain explores these links in several initiatives that bring together geoscientists, environmental scientists, hydrologists, ecologists, and climate scientists.

There is a growing recognition today of the importance of the nexus between energy and water, and the need for this to be actively managed across the nation and particularly in California with its historic water distribution challenges. Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure scientists are leveraging unique subsurface characterization and monitoring expertise with advanced modeling capabilities to promote sustainable groundwater management and identification of new water resources and storage opportunities while reducing associated costs and energy demand and ensuring water quality. Research areas include

improved groundwater recharge for enhanced storage
beneficial re-use of waters that otherwise would be treated as waste
environmentally sustainable subsurface utilization and its potential impacts on water

Assessment and reduction of environmental risk from subsurface energy applications are central elements of the current research portfolio (e.g., CO₂ leakage to groundwater, impacts from (unconventional) oil and gas production, etc.). Capabilities include multi-scale modeling, monitoring and detection, cleanup and mitigation planning, as well as system-level risk and performance assessment tools.

Another important geoscience linkage between energy and water is the desire to develop effective and affordable grid-scale energy storage in the deep subsurface. Grid-scale energy storage is needed to accommodate increasing contributions of intermittent renewable (solar and wind) electricity. Currently, the U.S. can store about 2.3% of its total electricity production, and 95% of this is by pumped hydro. Furthermore, in October 2013, California mandated 1.3 GW of statewide energy storage by 2020, which implies a mandate to increase grid-scale energy storage in California by a factor of 37 (!) by 2020. Grid-scale storage in the deep subsurface is an intriguing option that requires further research. Current approaches include porous media compressed air energy storage, thermal energy storage, or subsurface hydrogen storage.

Our nation’s energy infrastructure is threatened by existing and emerging natural phenomena, such as earthquakes and climate change. For example, damage to power plants, the electrical grid, or natural gas storage infrastructure from natural and perhaps induced seismic events can disrupt our energy supply. In addition, the evolution of environmental conditions driven by climate change can create previously unanticipated conditions and challenges. Credible estimates of sea-level rise associated with global warming can create major challenges for critical facilities and infrastructure located in low-lying areas. Researchers work on designing and creating more resilient systems with respect to environmental conditions and upsets, for example by developing verified and validated high-performance simulation models for infrastructure systems, leveraging advanced sensor and monitoring and solutions for critical infrastructure, and using science-base capabilities for engineered systems analysis and design.

This program domain is part of EESA’s Energy Geosciences Division.

News & Events

Three EESA scientists receive DOE Early Career Research Awards

August 10, 2017

Three Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientists receive the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Award for 2017. Congratulations to Nick Bouskill, Charlie Koven, and Neslihan Tas Baas.

EESA Develops New Approach to Restock California’s Groundwater via Almond Orchards, Vineyards

August 3, 2017

Groundwater—the water stored underneath the Earth’s surface between the cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and bedrock—is essential for the California residents and farmers who rely on it for up to 46 percent of their annual water use. Yet during the 2012-2017 drought, the state’s surface water supply was not sufficient to meet demand, resulting in excess groundwater pumping that caused land subsidence of up to 13 inches in some parts of the San Joaquin Valley.

Now a team of scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area are working with farmers and partners like the Almond Board of California and UC Davis to test on-farm banking, a new approach that has the potential to manage groundwater more sustainably. It’s an improvement on the age-old method of groundwater recharge, the process of replenishing aquifers by infiltrating water from the surface into shallow aquifers.

“On-farm banking has the promise of making the most productive use of the greatest amount of land possible while increasing the reliability and resiliency of California’s groundwater supply,” says EESA scientist Peter Nico, a soil and environmental biogeochemist.

EESA Scientist Builds Cross-Border Collaborations for Geothermal Research

August 1, 2017

Thirty-five years ago, Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientist Patrick Dobson began his career as a graduate student by conducting field mapping, collecting fluid samples, and learning the ropes from local scientists at the Los Azufres geothermal field in Michoacán, Mexico. During his summer doing field work in Mexico, he met Berkeley Lab’s Marcelo Lippmann, who was attending a symposium on the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, the subject of a collaborative research project between the Lab (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy) and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico’s state-owned utility.

Now—after decades of leading geothermal exploration projects all over the world, including Indonesia, Central America, and South America— Dobson’s work has come full circle.

Earlier this year, he spent two weeks in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico as a Fulbright Specialist in geothermal research. Hosted by the Center for Scientific Investigation and Higher Education in Ensenada (CICESE), one of the main hubs for geothermal work in the country, Dobson met with Mexican researchers to share knowledge, identify areas of mutual interest, and explore potential areas of collaboration.

Berkeley Lab Scientists Brief California Science Advisory Panel for Food and Agriculture

July 28, 2017

As two-thirds of the fruits and nuts—and over a third of the vegetables—produced in the United States are grown in California, it’s crucial that the Golden State cultivate healthy soils that are resilient to stresses such as climate change, drought, and groundwater overuse. Now scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) and Biosciences Area are contributing to the effort by sharing their expertise with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)’s Science Advisory Panel, a group comprised of farmers, agriculture professionals, and experts in areas such as water, conservation, and resource management. Last week, EESA scientist Peter Nico hosted the panel at the Lab to brief them on research related to developing healthy soils, sustainable groundwater management strategies, and climate-adaptive agriculture.

Susan Hubbard Named 2017 American Geophysical Union Fellow

July 27, 2017

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has named Susan Hubbard, Associate Laboratory Director for the Earth & Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab, as a 2017 AGU Fellow.

EESA Scientist to Lead Multimillion-Dollar Geothermal Energy Project

July 20, 2017

Tim Kneafsey, a staff scientist at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, will lead a new $9 million project aimed at removing technical barriers to commercialization of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), a clean energy technology with the potential to power 100 million American homes.

Berkeley Lab will partner with seven other DOE national labs and six universities to develop field experiments focused on understanding and modeling rock fractures, an essential element of geothermal systems. Scientists will use the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota to create small-scale fracture networks in crystalline rock 1,500 meters below ground.