Multi-period Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) infrastructure design and planning under uncertainty

The design of large-scale Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) networks is nontrivial due to large number of sources and sinks and their potential connectivity. The deployment of capture plants and CO${}_2$ transportation pipelines is a gradual process with facilities coming online at different points in time. Uncertainties in underground storage volumes for CO${}_2$ sequestration and enhanced oil recovery pose additional challenges. In this work, we employ a multi-period model formulation and a stochastic optimization approach combined with a rolling horizon-based solution strategy to find optimal CCUS network designs and infrastructure deployment schedules under a wide range of future realizations of the geological storage volumes. We also consider constraint on the budget allocation for each period. Our results for a case study on CCUS for the Illinois Basin region in the U.S. show that selecting capture facilities with high CO${}_2$ emissions is both economically and environmentally favorable. Utilization provides a strong economic incentive and is favorable towards the early deployment of CCUS at sites that can generate revenue through enhanced oil recovery. Accounting for uncertainties in geological storage volumes enable recourse actions such as building additional pipeline connections to mitigate undesirable deviations from the planned capture levels. These indicate that incorporating uncertainties in CCUS network design and the planning of the deployment of such infrastructure is important to reduce deviations from the expected capture amount as compared to a deterministic approach.