The UK government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2050. All future energy modelling identifies a role for hydrogen in providing decarbonised energy for heat, transport, industry and power generation. A key element of transition to hydrogen is to ensure security of supply for customers through hydrogen storage. Our future decarbonised networks will require large scale, long term seasonal storage of hydrogen to ensure a resilient and efficient network. Storage provides the ability to maximise the use of installed renewable capacity for production and subsequent storage of green hydrogen, providing maximum economic recovery of energy. This project will provide a GIS database illustrating optimal sites for development of geological hydrogen storage.
Benefits
The UK government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2050. All future energy modelling identifies a role for hydrogen in providing decarbonised energy for heat, transport, industry and power generation. A key element of transition to hydrogen is to ensure security of supply for customers through hydrogen storage. Our future decarbonised networks will require large scale, long term seasonal storage of hydrogen to ensure a resilient and efficient network. Storage provides the ability to maximise the use of installed renewable capacity for production and subsequent storage of green hydrogen, providing maximum economic recovery of energy. This project will provide a GIS database illustrating optimal sites for development of geological hydrogen storage.
Learnings
Outcomes
The project has delivered a GIS database that can be found on the following link: www.edin.ac/uk-hydrogen-storage-database.
The database contains calculations on geological data for porous media and salt cavern storage, including location, depth, pressure, temperature and capacity. Added to this are energy system assets, such as wind and solar farms, and infrastructural data including gas distribution network, the electricity grid and offshore gas field services. This project has provided invaluable data to stakeholders to understand the location of potential storage sites and how the hydrogen network will be constructed in the UK.
The work has been communicated to stakeholders in steering group meetings and at external industry events.
Lessons Learnt
The project is designed to illustrate the current UK energy system using almost exclusively publicly available or academically published material. However, two learnings may improve further iterations of the project. Firstly, more detailed commercial data might be obtained from paid research and consultancy groups for gas and condensate fields on the UKCS. For example, only half of the gas fields on the UKCS have geological and operational data openly accessible, leading to knowledge gaps in the GIS database. A more detailed and accurate data source for gas fields would greatly enhance the value of the GIS database. Secondly, the GIS database only shows limited future energy scenarios as outlined by government’s British Energy Security Strategy. A widening of future scenarios, including diametric pathways such as increasing the capacity of the electricity grid or full integration of hydrogen as an energy carrier, would allow the database’s users to make more informed decisions.
