Analysis and Applications of Natural Gas Micro-grids
Open Access
- Author:
- Carbine, Megan D'Lauro
- Area of Honors:
- Energy, Business, and Finance
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Seth Adam Blumsack, Thesis Supervisor
Seth Adam Blumsack, Thesis Honors Advisor
Luis F. Ayala, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- natural gas
Marcellus shale
Micro-Grid
economic analysis
Clearfield County
DuBois
NCL Resources - Abstract:
- The introduction of the Marcellus Shale play to the Pennsylvania natural gas industry has had various effects throughout the sector. Some large pipeline operators, in anticipation of increased demand for pipe access, have already or are considering significantly increasing the required pressure to input gas into their pipelines and the tariff they charge per unit of gas to gain access. These changes could represent a considerable increase in compression and overall costs for operators of shallow, low pressure wells that are nearing the end of their project life. In other cases, producers are concerned with being able to secure pipeline access at all. An option instead of using distribution pipelines is to create an alternative delivery architecture and directly supply the end users with a “Micro-Grid.” The economic viability of a Micro-Grid was analyzed through two case studies in the Pennsylvania region by creating a model of the cash flows from the projects. It was determined that when pipeline access is available and infrastructure already exists to deliver to the distribution line, a Micro-Grid is not the best economic option. It is, however, a viable option for a group of wells without existing infrastructure available to deliver to the pipeline transmission system or that cannot secure access to a distribution pipeline.