Hybrid energy transmission for liquefied shale gas and electricity using cryogenic and superconducting technologies: A technical and economic study of Sichuan, China

Shale gas (SG) is a type of clean energy fuel that has plentiful reserves in the Earth. Therefore, the question of how to exploit and efficiently transmit SG from gas reservoirs to high-density urban areas has become an important issue. This article presents a novel solution for the hybrid energy transmission of liquefied shale gas (LSG) and electricity using cryogenic and superconducting technologies, which can realize long-distance and high-efficiency multi-energy transmission. Three technical schemes are originally designed based on the real physical behaviors of the materials, electromagnetics and thermodynamics, with state-of-the-art fabrication technology and advanced commercial equipment and facilities. Furthermore, a detailed economic analysis regarding the static and dynamic payback periods is performed for all three schemes. A realistic study is carried out for the future hybrid energy transmission in Sichuan Province (the province in China with the richest SG storage). For a hybrid energy transmission case (5 GW fuel gas + 1 GW electricity), the annual energy capacities reach 8.76 TWh electricity and 2,759.4 Mtone LSG, and the static and dynamic payback periods are about 9.96 years and 14.46 years. Overall, both the technical and economic investigations confirm the advantages of the proposed long-distance hybrid LSG + electricity transmission concept, and offer multi-disciplinary design guidance of the hybrid energy pipeline and comprehensive methods on economic evaluation for future hybrid energy transmission.