Underground hydrogen storage

Using subsurface geological formations for large-scale energy storage

Date & Time: 15 February at 17:00 (Amsterdam time)
Lecture (17:00-18:00) followed by drinks

Language: English

In the Netherlands we consume 800 TWh of energy and emit 151 Mt of CO2 per year. To achieve the net zero goals of 2050, not only this big emission rate should drop to (nearly) zero, but also the renewable energy portion in the grid needs to be significantly scaled up. Scaling up renewable energy cannot happen without development of large-scale (TWh) storage technologies, beyond the scope of electric-based batteries (~ 100 kWh). Subsurface geological formations provide giant capacities for large-scale storage of energy when it is converted into green gas, specially hydrogen, or compressed and hot fluids. While utilisations of the subsurface formations for hydrocarbon productions and gas storage have a long track of success in the past decades, their successful contribution as large-scale batteries for hydrogen energy comes with many new scientific challenges.

In this talk, some of these challenges and recent scientific advances to tackle them are addressed. The scientific methodology includes a multiscale integrated experimental-numerical approach to characterize hydrogen transport and reservoir mechanics from micro/pore-scale to field-scale. Objectives are to contain hydrogen inside the reservoir, maintain its purity while being stored, and operate the reservoir under the safe critical stress thresholds.

Speaker: Hadi Hajibeygi