Michal C Moore | University of Calgary (original) (raw)
Papers by Michal C Moore
Canadian Unconventional Resources and International Petroleum Conference, 2010
Energy Studies Review, 2004
ABSTRACT The power industry is a diverse collection of public and private interests, all focused ... more ABSTRACT The power industry is a diverse collection of public and private interests, all focused on one objective - delivery of reliable and affordable power of all types to the consumer. The responsibilities in this enterprise are immense, ranging from public policy to private investments, from market regulation to efficiency measures for the end user. And, it is an endeavor in transition, where renewable energy will be playing an increasing role. Assuring that this enterprise serves us well requires the skills of many actors, uniting them in a complex arena where anticipating the future is just as important as delivering the present.
While ample uncertainty surrounds the prospects of reaching global consensus during the upcoming ... more While ample uncertainty surrounds the prospects of reaching global consensus during the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, one thing is clear: work will continue to establish new, globally-binding carbon emission standards even if a climate treaty is not forged right away. I n his paper on "Engineered Geothermal Systems: Economic Viability and Future Prospects" Professor Michal Moore of the University of Calgary's I nstitute for Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Economy (I SEEE) reviews the current status and assesses the potential of Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS). The inquiry has important implications for the policy agenda and future needs of both developed and developing economies that strive to meet rapidly expanding baseload power needs cleanly. Professor Moore contends that EGS is not yet economically competitive with other forms of electricity generation, but it is quickly closing the gap. With the aid of modest boosts in R&D funding, EGS holds potential as a viable and cost-competitive means to provide clean power in our carbon-constrained future.
Energy is critical to the economy and welfare of developing nations. In the case of electricity, ... more Energy is critical to the economy and welfare of developing nations. In the case of electricity, the use of central station models is prohibitively expensive and beyond the means of many less developed nations. Economic development could proceed without sacrificing equity if the energy sector followed a strategy of utilizing renewable energy resources in distributed generation deployment. This follows because export of central station technology to developing nations will transfer inefficient, capital intensive, and regressive development schemes and retard or eliminate long-term Gross Domestic Product (GDP) gains that might be
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Canada is a safe and stable resource-rich nation in an increasingly energy-hungry world. While th... more Canada is a safe and stable resource-rich nation in an increasingly energy-hungry world. While this state of affairs imbues our riches with strategic importance, it also creates an acute need for accurate data collection guided by nationally accepted methods, tools and approaches, to cut through the tangle of overlapping jurisdictions that confuse present attempts to understand the Canadian energy sector as a whole. Prepared at the request of the Alberta Department of Energy, this paper proposes the creation of the Canadian Energy Information Organization (CEIO), an independent, objective energy information agency similar, but not identical, to the Energy Information Administration in the United States and the International Energy Agency serving OECD member countries. Funded through modest provincial contributions and working with Statistics Canada, the CEIO would support federal and provincial energy regulatory mechanisms; offer timely energy forecasts, analysis and statistical interpretations; lower research costs for the provinces; promote clear and uniform reporting standards; and aggregate facts and figures in an easily accessible database functioning as an official information portal, educating the public and ensuring that Canada makes the most of its energy bounty. A nationally recognized authority on the Canadian energy sector is long overdue, and in sketching one (right down to the level of corporate governance, budgeting and staffing), this paper fills in a major gap in Canada's energy landscape.
2009 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, 2009
Oil sands operations are playing an increasingly important role in North American oil supplies. E... more Oil sands operations are playing an increasingly important role in North American oil supplies. Extracting and processing bitumen from oil sands is an energy intensive process that requires both electricity and steam which are usually sourced through fossil fuel conversions. This energy intensity (and associated CO2 emissions) as well as the rapid expansion of extraction operations has led to concerns
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT Canada’s federal government has championed the prospect of exporting liquefied natural g... more ABSTRACT Canada’s federal government has championed the prospect of exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to overseas markets. The government of British Columbia is aggressively planning to turn itself into a global LNG-export hub, and the prospect for Canadian LNG exports is positive. However, there are market and political uncertainties that must be overcome in a relatively short period of time if Canada is to become a natural gas exporter to a country other than the United States. This report assesses the feasibility of Canadian exports and examines the policy challenges involved in making the opportunity a reality.Demand for natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow over 60 per cent by 2025. LNG trade is expected to make up nearly two-thirds of global natural gas trade by 2035. Supply in the Asia-Pacific region is limited, requiring significant LNG imports with corresponding infrastructure investment. This results in substantial price differentials between North America and the Asia-Pacific countries, creating a potentially lucrative opportunity for Canada.The lower North American prices are a reflection of the fact that there is a surplus of gas on this continent. Canada’s shipments to its sole export market, the United States, are shrinking in the face of vast increases in American production of shale and tight gas. Canada has a surplus of natural gas and there is growing demand in the Asia-Pacific region. Proponents argue that all Canada needs to do is build and supply facilities to liquefy gas and ship it across the Pacific; thereality is not so simple.Timing is one of the key challenges Canada faces. Producers around the world — including in the newly gas-rich U.S. — are racing to lock up market-share in the Asia-Pacific region, in many cases much more aggressively than Canada. While this market is robust and growing, the nature of the contracts for delivery will favour actors that are earliest in the queue; margins for those arriving late will be slimmer and less certain over time. As supply grows, so too does the likelihood of falling gas prices in the Asia-Pacific region, making later projects less lucrative. LNG projects are feasible only on the basis of long-term contracts; once a piece of market share is acquired, it could be decades before it becomes available again. Currently, there are more proposed LNG-export projects around the world than will be required to meet projected demand for the foreseeable future.Delays beyond 2024 risk complete competitive loss of market entry for Canadian companies. B.C. is behind schedule on the government’s goal of having a single terminal operational by 2015. Of equal concern is the lack of policy and regulatory co-ordination, with disagreements between governments over standards, process and compensation for those stakeholders involved in the potential LNG industry. Issues as basic as taxing and royalty charges for gas shipments between provinces and locating facilities and marine-safety standards remain unsettled in Canada. The B.C. government has announced plans to levy special taxes on LNG, a policy that could render many current proposals uncompetitive. The LNG market is much more complicated than current discussions suggest; this report delves into every aspect relevant for Canada as a potential exporter. The prospect for Canada expanding into the Asia-Pacific market is entirely viable. Canada has almost everything going for it: political stability, free-market principles, immense resources, extensive infrastructure and industry experience. Everything, that is, except a coordinated regulatory and policy regime. Withoutthat, Canada could be shut out, stuck relying on a single U.S. gas-export market that, increasingly, does not need us.
A new computer-based model has been developed to evaluate the levelized cost of electricity and/o... more A new computer-based model has been developed to evaluate the levelized cost of electricity and/or directuse heat from Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). This software upgrades and expands the "MIT-EGS" model used in the 2006 "Future of Geothermal Energy" study. The upgrades include implementation of the latest geothermal well drilling and power plant cost submodels as well as incorporation of production wellbore heat losses. The main expansion consists of implementing different end-uses, i.e. electricity, direct-use, or combined heat & power (CHP). The new model "GEOthermal energy for the Production of Heat and Electricity Economically Simulated" (GEOPHIRES) can be used either as a stand-alone program or as a subroutine to be called from another program, e.g. MATLAB. GEOPHIRES has the option to either simulate an EGS reservoir and power plant for given parameters, or optimize their design, operating parameters and drilling depth to yield minimum levelized cost. Two case studies were analyzed. The first one provides an estimate of the levelized cost of electricity and direct-use heat with EGS, which is compared with predictions from the widely used GETEM (Geothermal Electricity Technology Evaluation Model). The second case study develops a supply curve for geothermal energy district heating using EGS for the states of New York and Pennsylvaniawhich are representative areas for low-enthalpy geothermal energy resources in the U.S.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2014
ABSTRACT There is no abstract available for this article.
SPE Americas E&P Environmental and Safety Conference, 2009
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2014
ABSTRACT GEOPHIRES (GEOthermal energy for the Production of Heat and Electricity ("IR&am... more ABSTRACT GEOPHIRES (GEOthermal energy for the Production of Heat and Electricity ("IR") Economically Simulated) is a software tool that combines reservoir, wellbore, and power plant models with capital and operating cost correlations and financial levelized cost models to assess the technical and economic performance of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). It is an upgrade and expansion of the "MIT-EGS" program used in the 2006 "Future of Geothermal Energy" study. GEOPHIRES includes updated cost correlations for well drilling and completion, resource exploration, and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and flash power plants. It also has new power plant efficiency correlations based on AspenPlus and MATLAB simulations. The structure of GEOPHIRES enables feasibility studies of using geothermal resources not only for electricity generation but also for direct-use heating, and combined heat and power (CHP) applications. Full documentation on GEOPHIRES is provided in the supplementary material. Using GEOPHIRES, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) have been estimated for 3 cases of resource grade (low-, medium-, and high-grade resource corresponding to a geothermal gradient of 30, 50, and 70 degrees C/km) in combination with 3 levels of technological maturity (today's, mid-term, and commercially mature technology corresponding to a productivity of 30, 50, and 70 kg/s per production well and thermal drawdown rate of 2%, 1.5%, and 1%). The results for the LCOE range from 4.6 to 57 (c) over bar /kWh(e) and for the LCOH from 3.5 to 14 /MMBTU(1.2to4.8(c)overbar/kWh(th)).Theresultsforthebase−casescenario(medium−graderesourceandmid−termtechnology)are11(c)overbar/kWh(e)and5/MMBTU (1.2 to 4.8 (c) over bar /kWh(th)). The results for the base-case scenario (medium-grade resource and mid-term technology) are 11 (c) over bar /kWh(e) and 5 /MMBTU(1.2to4.8(c)overbar/kWh(th)).Theresultsforthebase−casescenario(medium−graderesourceandmid−termtechnology)are11(c)overbar/kWh(e)and5/MMBTU (1.7 (c) over bar /kWh(th)), respectively. To account for parameter uncertainty, a sensitivity analysis has been included. The results for the LCOE and LCOH have been compared with values found in literature for EGS as well as other energy technologies. The key findings suggest that given today's technology maturity, electricity and direct-use heat from EGS are not economically competitive under current market conditions with other energy technologies. However, with moderate technological improvements, electricity from EGS is predicted to become cost-effective with respect to other renewable and non-renewable energy sources for medium-and high-grade geothermal resources. Direct-use heat from EGS is calculated to become cost-effective even for low-grade resources. This emphasizes that EGS for direct-use heat may not be neglected in future EGS development. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.
Canadian Unconventional Resources and International Petroleum Conference, 2010
Energy Studies Review, 2004
ABSTRACT The power industry is a diverse collection of public and private interests, all focused ... more ABSTRACT The power industry is a diverse collection of public and private interests, all focused on one objective - delivery of reliable and affordable power of all types to the consumer. The responsibilities in this enterprise are immense, ranging from public policy to private investments, from market regulation to efficiency measures for the end user. And, it is an endeavor in transition, where renewable energy will be playing an increasing role. Assuring that this enterprise serves us well requires the skills of many actors, uniting them in a complex arena where anticipating the future is just as important as delivering the present.
While ample uncertainty surrounds the prospects of reaching global consensus during the upcoming ... more While ample uncertainty surrounds the prospects of reaching global consensus during the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, one thing is clear: work will continue to establish new, globally-binding carbon emission standards even if a climate treaty is not forged right away. I n his paper on "Engineered Geothermal Systems: Economic Viability and Future Prospects" Professor Michal Moore of the University of Calgary's I nstitute for Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Economy (I SEEE) reviews the current status and assesses the potential of Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS). The inquiry has important implications for the policy agenda and future needs of both developed and developing economies that strive to meet rapidly expanding baseload power needs cleanly. Professor Moore contends that EGS is not yet economically competitive with other forms of electricity generation, but it is quickly closing the gap. With the aid of modest boosts in R&D funding, EGS holds potential as a viable and cost-competitive means to provide clean power in our carbon-constrained future.
Energy is critical to the economy and welfare of developing nations. In the case of electricity, ... more Energy is critical to the economy and welfare of developing nations. In the case of electricity, the use of central station models is prohibitively expensive and beyond the means of many less developed nations. Economic development could proceed without sacrificing equity if the energy sector followed a strategy of utilizing renewable energy resources in distributed generation deployment. This follows because export of central station technology to developing nations will transfer inefficient, capital intensive, and regressive development schemes and retard or eliminate long-term Gross Domestic Product (GDP) gains that might be
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Canada is a safe and stable resource-rich nation in an increasingly energy-hungry world. While th... more Canada is a safe and stable resource-rich nation in an increasingly energy-hungry world. While this state of affairs imbues our riches with strategic importance, it also creates an acute need for accurate data collection guided by nationally accepted methods, tools and approaches, to cut through the tangle of overlapping jurisdictions that confuse present attempts to understand the Canadian energy sector as a whole. Prepared at the request of the Alberta Department of Energy, this paper proposes the creation of the Canadian Energy Information Organization (CEIO), an independent, objective energy information agency similar, but not identical, to the Energy Information Administration in the United States and the International Energy Agency serving OECD member countries. Funded through modest provincial contributions and working with Statistics Canada, the CEIO would support federal and provincial energy regulatory mechanisms; offer timely energy forecasts, analysis and statistical interpretations; lower research costs for the provinces; promote clear and uniform reporting standards; and aggregate facts and figures in an easily accessible database functioning as an official information portal, educating the public and ensuring that Canada makes the most of its energy bounty. A nationally recognized authority on the Canadian energy sector is long overdue, and in sketching one (right down to the level of corporate governance, budgeting and staffing), this paper fills in a major gap in Canada's energy landscape.
2009 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, 2009
Oil sands operations are playing an increasingly important role in North American oil supplies. E... more Oil sands operations are playing an increasingly important role in North American oil supplies. Extracting and processing bitumen from oil sands is an energy intensive process that requires both electricity and steam which are usually sourced through fossil fuel conversions. This energy intensity (and associated CO2 emissions) as well as the rapid expansion of extraction operations has led to concerns
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT Canada’s federal government has championed the prospect of exporting liquefied natural g... more ABSTRACT Canada’s federal government has championed the prospect of exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) to overseas markets. The government of British Columbia is aggressively planning to turn itself into a global LNG-export hub, and the prospect for Canadian LNG exports is positive. However, there are market and political uncertainties that must be overcome in a relatively short period of time if Canada is to become a natural gas exporter to a country other than the United States. This report assesses the feasibility of Canadian exports and examines the policy challenges involved in making the opportunity a reality.Demand for natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow over 60 per cent by 2025. LNG trade is expected to make up nearly two-thirds of global natural gas trade by 2035. Supply in the Asia-Pacific region is limited, requiring significant LNG imports with corresponding infrastructure investment. This results in substantial price differentials between North America and the Asia-Pacific countries, creating a potentially lucrative opportunity for Canada.The lower North American prices are a reflection of the fact that there is a surplus of gas on this continent. Canada’s shipments to its sole export market, the United States, are shrinking in the face of vast increases in American production of shale and tight gas. Canada has a surplus of natural gas and there is growing demand in the Asia-Pacific region. Proponents argue that all Canada needs to do is build and supply facilities to liquefy gas and ship it across the Pacific; thereality is not so simple.Timing is one of the key challenges Canada faces. Producers around the world — including in the newly gas-rich U.S. — are racing to lock up market-share in the Asia-Pacific region, in many cases much more aggressively than Canada. While this market is robust and growing, the nature of the contracts for delivery will favour actors that are earliest in the queue; margins for those arriving late will be slimmer and less certain over time. As supply grows, so too does the likelihood of falling gas prices in the Asia-Pacific region, making later projects less lucrative. LNG projects are feasible only on the basis of long-term contracts; once a piece of market share is acquired, it could be decades before it becomes available again. Currently, there are more proposed LNG-export projects around the world than will be required to meet projected demand for the foreseeable future.Delays beyond 2024 risk complete competitive loss of market entry for Canadian companies. B.C. is behind schedule on the government’s goal of having a single terminal operational by 2015. Of equal concern is the lack of policy and regulatory co-ordination, with disagreements between governments over standards, process and compensation for those stakeholders involved in the potential LNG industry. Issues as basic as taxing and royalty charges for gas shipments between provinces and locating facilities and marine-safety standards remain unsettled in Canada. The B.C. government has announced plans to levy special taxes on LNG, a policy that could render many current proposals uncompetitive. The LNG market is much more complicated than current discussions suggest; this report delves into every aspect relevant for Canada as a potential exporter. The prospect for Canada expanding into the Asia-Pacific market is entirely viable. Canada has almost everything going for it: political stability, free-market principles, immense resources, extensive infrastructure and industry experience. Everything, that is, except a coordinated regulatory and policy regime. Withoutthat, Canada could be shut out, stuck relying on a single U.S. gas-export market that, increasingly, does not need us.
A new computer-based model has been developed to evaluate the levelized cost of electricity and/o... more A new computer-based model has been developed to evaluate the levelized cost of electricity and/or directuse heat from Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). This software upgrades and expands the "MIT-EGS" model used in the 2006 "Future of Geothermal Energy" study. The upgrades include implementation of the latest geothermal well drilling and power plant cost submodels as well as incorporation of production wellbore heat losses. The main expansion consists of implementing different end-uses, i.e. electricity, direct-use, or combined heat & power (CHP). The new model "GEOthermal energy for the Production of Heat and Electricity Economically Simulated" (GEOPHIRES) can be used either as a stand-alone program or as a subroutine to be called from another program, e.g. MATLAB. GEOPHIRES has the option to either simulate an EGS reservoir and power plant for given parameters, or optimize their design, operating parameters and drilling depth to yield minimum levelized cost. Two case studies were analyzed. The first one provides an estimate of the levelized cost of electricity and direct-use heat with EGS, which is compared with predictions from the widely used GETEM (Geothermal Electricity Technology Evaluation Model). The second case study develops a supply curve for geothermal energy district heating using EGS for the states of New York and Pennsylvaniawhich are representative areas for low-enthalpy geothermal energy resources in the U.S.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2014
ABSTRACT There is no abstract available for this article.
SPE Americas E&P Environmental and Safety Conference, 2009
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2014
ABSTRACT GEOPHIRES (GEOthermal energy for the Production of Heat and Electricity ("IR&am... more ABSTRACT GEOPHIRES (GEOthermal energy for the Production of Heat and Electricity ("IR") Economically Simulated) is a software tool that combines reservoir, wellbore, and power plant models with capital and operating cost correlations and financial levelized cost models to assess the technical and economic performance of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). It is an upgrade and expansion of the "MIT-EGS" program used in the 2006 "Future of Geothermal Energy" study. GEOPHIRES includes updated cost correlations for well drilling and completion, resource exploration, and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and flash power plants. It also has new power plant efficiency correlations based on AspenPlus and MATLAB simulations. The structure of GEOPHIRES enables feasibility studies of using geothermal resources not only for electricity generation but also for direct-use heating, and combined heat and power (CHP) applications. Full documentation on GEOPHIRES is provided in the supplementary material. Using GEOPHIRES, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) have been estimated for 3 cases of resource grade (low-, medium-, and high-grade resource corresponding to a geothermal gradient of 30, 50, and 70 degrees C/km) in combination with 3 levels of technological maturity (today's, mid-term, and commercially mature technology corresponding to a productivity of 30, 50, and 70 kg/s per production well and thermal drawdown rate of 2%, 1.5%, and 1%). The results for the LCOE range from 4.6 to 57 (c) over bar /kWh(e) and for the LCOH from 3.5 to 14 /MMBTU(1.2to4.8(c)overbar/kWh(th)).Theresultsforthebase−casescenario(medium−graderesourceandmid−termtechnology)are11(c)overbar/kWh(e)and5/MMBTU (1.2 to 4.8 (c) over bar /kWh(th)). The results for the base-case scenario (medium-grade resource and mid-term technology) are 11 (c) over bar /kWh(e) and 5 /MMBTU(1.2to4.8(c)overbar/kWh(th)).Theresultsforthebase−casescenario(medium−graderesourceandmid−termtechnology)are11(c)overbar/kWh(e)and5/MMBTU (1.7 (c) over bar /kWh(th)), respectively. To account for parameter uncertainty, a sensitivity analysis has been included. The results for the LCOE and LCOH have been compared with values found in literature for EGS as well as other energy technologies. The key findings suggest that given today's technology maturity, electricity and direct-use heat from EGS are not economically competitive under current market conditions with other energy technologies. However, with moderate technological improvements, electricity from EGS is predicted to become cost-effective with respect to other renewable and non-renewable energy sources for medium-and high-grade geothermal resources. Direct-use heat from EGS is calculated to become cost-effective even for low-grade resources. This emphasizes that EGS for direct-use heat may not be neglected in future EGS development. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.