Utilizing publicly available datasets for identifying offshore salt strata and developing salt caverns for hydrogen storage

Abstract

Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in a future climate-neutral economy by decarbonizing ‘hard to abate’ sectors, and importantly act as an energy carrier to balance intermittent renewable energy production, which, if stored, could be used to address grid-scale energy demands. It is evident that for unlocking the vast potential of hydrogen technologies, large-scale hydrogen storage with the capability of fast cyclic operations needs to be secured. Underground salt caverns, where decades of operational experience exist, offer an attractive option for hydrogen storage due to the high hydrogen sealing potential of salt, capability for large injection/withdrawal flow rates and capacity for large volume storage. This study presents a novel methodology for selecting offshore salt cavern sites based on publicly available datasets, which leads to eventually estimating regional hydrogen storage capacities. The Southern North Sea was investigated and a case study detailing a single diapiric salt structure is presented, demonstrating the strength and practicality of the framework as well as highlighting the potential of offshore salt cavern storage of hydrogen in the decarbonization energy journey of the UK.