Green-HUGS

Fundamental Advances to Enable the Large-Scale Deployment of UnderGround Hydrogen Storage for a Green Hydrogen Economy

The massive underground storage of hydrogen is a powerful means to manage the lag between energy production and demand, which are typical for renewable sources like wind and solar. These energy sources are subject to seasonal variations, which leads to an unsteady electricity supply to the grid. The resulting imbalance between supply and demand requires a strategy for the massive storage of the excess energy. Hydrogen plays a key role in this context as an energy carrier because it has a high specific energy and its combustion product is mostly water vapor. But large volumes are required to meet energy storage requirements (GWh to Twh).

Geological formations such as saline aquifers, evaporite caves and depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs provide storage capacities in the necessary energy range. Geomechanics, multiphase flow, transport, mixing and reaction are challenging research topics involved in these formations.

The general objective of Green-HUGS is to advance the knowledge base for the efficient and safe geological storage of hydrogen and thus contribute to a green-hydrogen economy and the transition to a carbon-neutral society.