GeoEnergy Test Bed
The GTB is an initiative of the University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey. The site represents a £6M investment to support new and emergent geo-energy sectors critical for a sustainable energy future, including £2.5 M UK government-funding through the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) project.
The geology at the GTB offers the opportunity to access rocks equivalent to those under the North Sea that are of interest for geological storage; the Sherwood Sandstone and the Mercia Mudstone Group. Although CO2 is stored at much greater depths than we are studying at the GTB, this field laboratory enables research to refine strategies for monitoring the zone above the reservoir - an essential part of proving site conformance for large-scale storage projects.
The GTB comprises seven monitoring wells plus surface sensors forming an array focused around two injection wells. Depth of CO2 injection is ~ 210 and ~10 m. A permanent sensor array (plus intermittent mobile surveys) is being used to study the acoustic, electro-magnetic, mechanical, geochemical and other relevant properties of the volume of rock and pore fluids around the injection wells, and CO2 levels in the soil and air.
The current science programme at the GTB aims to respond to three major science challenges:
Date of CO2 injection is still to be confirmed
The GTB offers a unique facility in the UK to study CO2 migration at a location where rocks have not previously been exposed to significant quantities of CO2. A wealth of pre-injection data has already been collected. The GTB is also used for field training and testing of survey techniques due to its proximity to the BGS head office in Keyworth.
Currently, pre-injection data collection is underway utilising an array of surface and subsurface sensors including optic fibre (temperature and acoustic), Electrical Resistivity Tomography, microseismic (single well), soil gas flux and concentration, pressure sensors. A number of surveys have been conducted including soil gas flux and concentration, groundwater, 2D seismic data, collection of soil samples for microbiology. Core is available for one well and has been used for site characterisation including geothermal properties of the Mercia Mudstone Group.
There is a site office (adapted shipping container) with mains power and an onsite storage container which can be used as a temporary sample processing facility. The GTB is approximately 15 miles from the BGS headquarters where fully equipped state-of-the-art geoscience laboratories could be made available to visiting researchers by arrangement.