14 Sep Salt Cavern Storage

Source: http://innovation.engie.com

It is estimated that Green Hydrogen would supply up to 25% of the world’s energy needs by 2050. Being this so, scientists have been researching and testing different storage solutions. Salt caverns have proved their worth.

Once a salt deposit is found, a cavern is created, usually between 500 and 1,500 metres deep. First, the salt has to be drilled into, and then it has to be dissolved by water, resulting in brine which is extracted; thus enough space is created to store hydrogen under pressure.

The advantages of such storage are that there are already salt mines around the world that might be reconverted into hydrogen storage caverns and others might be created anew to ensure supply. The first hydrogen storage cavern built in 1972 in the UK is still in use.

There are already 4 hydrogen storage salt caverns so we know, we will need them to work quicker to meet higher energy demands. These caverns are under study to check that there’s no chemical reaction when storing hydrogen. If such a chemical reaction took place, it would be required a specific treatment to purify the hydrogen. Salt caverns are scarce and most of them are in Germany, The Netherlands, and Denmark and to a lesser degree in Poland, France, the UK…

There are currently projects both in America and in the UE to create hydrogen storage. The current and future demand for energy is increasing and companies are already developing projects such as HyPSTER to build underground hydrogen storage demonstrators in salt caverns.