The morning will consist of two parts: (i) a tour of the facilities, including an oil country tubular goods testing system that utilizes 100% hydrogen gas, thermal flow loops, and dynamic load frames; and (ii) a presentation summarizing C-FER’s salt cavern storage research to-date (some of which was conducted for SMRI), including: Finite Element Analyses regarding salt creep and cavern stability, well deformation analyses using Multi-finger caliper data, risk assessments for cavern release events, corrosion logging tool and fiber optic monitoring evaluation studies, and commentary on technical gaps in the industry.

ATCO Energy Systems and ATCO EnPower are jointly hosting the afternoon portion of the field trip to salt cavern storage operations facilities located in the Fort Saskatchewan area. ATCO Energy Systems supports the safely and reliably delivery within the natural gas network to utility services customers. The tour will include a walking plant tour of the energy infrastructure and overview of the nearly forty years of operating six gas expansion drive salt caverns. ATCO EnPower is leading the way in the energy transition with innovative power and integrated energy solutions. The facility currently contains five brine displacement drive salt caverns utilized for NGL storage. The tour will include technical discussion topics of Lotsberg salt cavern storage operations, viewing of core samples and a driving tour of the infrastructure that support NGL cavern storage operations.