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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
 

Session 27. Oral Presentation for: Repurposing gas fields for energy storage – a proposal for compressed air energy storage in the depleted Rolleston gas field

Xingjin Wang A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Denison Gas Limited, Chatswood, NSW 2064, Australia.




Dr Xingjin Wang is an experienced geologist and a well-known entrepreneur in the oil and gas industry. Xingjin holds a PhD in Applied Geology from the University of New South Wales and has over 30 years of international experience in gas exploration and production applications, as well as CO₂ sequestration in China and Australia. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Denison Gas Ltd. Xingjin served as the General Manager of Arrow Energy from 2007 to 2010. As a Technical Advisor to Gazprom, he was involved in a CSG pilot project in Siberia, Russia, from 2011 to 2014. Xingjin is an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and serves as the Vice President of SPE NSW/ACT Sector.

* Correspondence to: xwang@denisongas.com.au

Australian Energy Producers Journal 65, EP24506 https://doi.org/10.1071/EP24506
Published: 19 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of Australian Energy Producers. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Presented on 29 May 2025: Session 27

Transitioning to renewable energy is a global target, but the intermittent nature of renewables requires energy storage for a successful transition. Australia currently has a significant shortfall in longer term energy storage that can be efficiently deployed. This paper introduces a probable solution to that challenge: repurposing a depleted gas field in Rolleston, Central Queensland, into a compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility. Depleted gas reservoirs with proven seal, porosity and permeability, offer potential to be repurposed for CAES. The application of CAES using geological media was explored in Germany in 1978 and the USA in 1991. However, large-scale commercial deployment has been occurring only recently in China, where underground salt caverns are utilised for storage. Conceptual studies indicate a gas reservoir at Rolleston gas field could be transformed into a CAES plant of 600 megawatts (MW) and 12-hour duration. By leveraging its geological attributes, the reservoir has potential to significantly enhance the sustainability and reliability of Queensland’s power supply. This paper provides an overview of the proposed CAES project including its scope, progress to date and next steps.

To access the Oral Presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

Keywords: CAES, depleted gas reservoir, long duration energy storage, net zero emissions, renewable energy, Rolleston gas field.

Biographies

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Dr Xingjin Wang is an experienced geologist and a well-known entrepreneur in the oil and gas industry. Xingjin holds a PhD in Applied Geology from the University of New South Wales and has over 30 years of international experience in gas exploration and production applications, as well as CO₂ sequestration in China and Australia. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Denison Gas Ltd. Xingjin served as the General Manager of Arrow Energy from 2007 to 2010. As a Technical Advisor to Gazprom, he was involved in a CSG pilot project in Siberia, Russia, from 2011 to 2014. Xingjin is an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and serves as the Vice President of SPE NSW/ACT Sector.