The Bergermeer gas storage is an underground
natural gas storage in the
Alkmaar
Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...
region north of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
in
the Netherlands
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, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. It started operations in 2014. It is one of the largest gas storages in Europe.
[
]
Technical features
The gas storage uses a depleted
gas reservoir. The working volume of the gas storage will be 4.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) and a volume of cushion gas would be 4.6 bcm.
[
][
] The gas storage will include 14 new wells to a depth of , of pipeline and the gas treatment facility. The gas treatment and compression facilities are being designed as a zero-emissions plant.
[ The project is expected to cost €800 million excluding the cost of cushion gas.][ In August 2009, Gazprom Export—the export unit of ]Gazprom
PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...
—was contracted to supply the project's cushion gas in exchange for gas storage services and a participating interest in operations of the facility. The final investment decision was made in October 2009. Assuming all permits are obtained, construction will start in mid-2010 with drilling of the 14 new wells expected to start in 2011.[ Commercial operations will start due to resistance of local city councils in 2014 at the earliest.
]
Project company
The Bergermeer project consortium consists of TAQA Energy B.V. (a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company
The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, PJSC (TAQA) is a government controlled energy holding company of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
TAQA (Arabic for Energy) is one of Abu Dhabi's flagship companies and as such has an important role to play ...
), Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN), Dyas B.V. and Suncor.[
] The facility is operated by TAQA Energy[ with out of hours market operations services provided by the UK based company GMSL.
]
Environmental constraints
A number of scientific reports[Seismic hazard van geïnduceerde aardbevingen][Technical review of Bergermeer Seismicity study, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009]
/ref> however show that gas storage might bring about serious seismic hazard to the surrounding municipalities of Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
, Heiloo and Schermer and the town of Alkmaar. The area has known a number of (man) induced earthquakes during the depletion of the field between 1994 and 2008, with subsequent higher magnitudes on the Richter scale. Scientists from a number of renowned scientific institutes such as KNMI, MIT[ and TNO are comfortable with an estimated maximum magnitude of 3.9 on the Richter scale, with a chance of occurrence of 2% over the concession period. Earthquakes with lower magnitude but still quite damaging are of a much higher likelihood.
]
References
{{Reflist, 2
Gazprom
Natural gas infrastructure in the Netherlands
Natural gas storage
Proposed energy infrastructure in the Netherlands