American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2024 - 47

SpecialReport: Repurposing Natural Gas
of the gas transportation and storage mechanism
by converting the gas immediately
to electrons and store those? In effect,
storing the gas molecules results in an
unrealized asset that will not return on
the investment until some point in the
future when it is removed from the ground,
shipped to a generating plant and converted
into electrons. Microgeneration allows
revenue and investment returns to be realized
sooner as opposed to later.
As noted, the obvious major obstacle
to this proposition is that it is relatively
easy to store gas molecules at scale, but
in contrast, very difficult to store the generated
electrons. However, instead of accepting
the current reality as unyielding
truth, alternative methods of energy storage
need to be pursued with the same level
of commitment as developing alternative
fuels. Challenging the most innovative
minds to find a better way to store energy
may produce results that are hard to even
imagine today.
As an example, one simple solution
may be geothermal energy storage. The
energy produced from the natural gas
may be converted to mechanical energy
and used to pump fluids into a high-temperature,
overpressured formation and
stored as potential energy waiting to be
opened to a hydroelectric turbine. A few
companies already are experimenting
with this idea. In the simplest explanation,
the mechanical energy is used to raise a
weight connected to a fly wheel, and
when the power is needed, the weight is
dropped, spinning the flywheel and generating
the stored electricity.
At first glance, this may not appear
to be a viable solution for storing large
amounts of power. But perhaps the weight
can be massively larger, or the theory
can be modified so that instead of displacing
a weight, the process displaces
a fluid volume and creates hydrostatic
pressure. The point is, there are other
ways to store electricity other than lithium-ion
batteries.
The sky should be the limit for proposing
and testing theories in the quest
to develop a new generation of energy
storage capability. As a nation, we should
encourage bright young minds to think
differently and challenge them to redefine
energy storage in a marketplace of ideas.
They are the ones who ultimately will
be affected by growing energy demand
and shrinking supplies. Taking a road
less traveled is what will lead to real
innovation.
Self-Sustaining Communities
A grid centered on natural gas-fired
microgeneration invariably can lead to
changes in how communities and municipal
infrastructure are built. The oil
and gas industry already is using microgrids
running on produced gas to
self-power fields and operations with
small-scale, in-field infrastructure. That
same idea can be extended to power
entire communities.
Rather than developing a community
outward from a power grid system connected
to a substation, why not go the
other way and start with the generating
resource and build back to the infrastructure
to push to the grid instead of
pulling from it? In this manner, completely
self-sustaining and essentially
off-grid communities can be built that
enhance infrastructure.
Similarly, this approach may transform
the way industrial parks are developed,
concentrating on areas where natural gas
is stranded or supply is pinched by capacity
bottlenecks. Often, those areas with stranded
gas production are in rural areas,
where market access is constrained by
infrastructure capacity.
As a prime industrial complex example,
imagine a company looking to
construct a new data center. Locally
converting an underutilized supply of
gas directly to power may be a highly
economic proposition. One concern is
that data centers require extensive highspeed
data connections. The good news
is that fiber optic crisscrosses the country
along railroad rights of way, and railroad
tracks are not an uncommon sight in
the proximity of underutilized gas fields
in many parts of the country. A solution
exists for every challenge, no matter
how seemingly big.
For 130 years, the nation's electricity
grid has by and large functioned the
same. It has managed to get the job done,
so far. But for how much longer? The
next energy revolution may not be far
away. It seems foolish to ignore the possibilities
enabled by America's most abundant
resource-natural gas-in fueling
that revolution and solving market challenges
to satisfy growing demand for
electricity.
❒
LYOID
FUSSELL
Lyoid Fussell is vice president of business development at Houston-based Jereh North
American Group, a petroleum equipment manufacturer. Located in Tulsa, he is also co-founder
of FW Consulting Power Solutions, which helps identify and secure power generation solutions
for projects that convert natural gas to electricity. Fussell has more than two decades of
industry experience, previously serving in management and sales roles at Trisun Energy
Services, ResMetrics, EcoStim Energy Solutions, Ely and Associates Corp., PetroQuest Energy,
Core Laboratories and Halliburton. A U.S. Army veteran, Fussell holds a B.S. in industrial engineering
from Kansas State University.
MARCH 2024 47

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2024

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