Geologic storage of hydrogen: Scaling up to meet city transportation demands

Abstract

12Over the last decade, there has been a growing interest in large-scale use of hydrogen in the transportation and 13 renewable energy sectors. Relatively cost-effective storage options at scale are essential to realize the full potential 14 of hydrogen as an energy carrier. Underground geologic storage of hydrogen could offer substantial storage cost 15 reductions as well as buffer capacity to meet possible disruptions in supply or changing seasonal demands. Several 16 geologic storage site options are being considered including salt caverns, depleted oil and/or gas reservoirs, aquifers, 17and hard rock caverns. This paper describes an economic analysis that addresses the costs entailed in developing 18and operating a geologic storage facility. The analysis focuses on salt caverns to illustrate potential city demand for 19 hydrogen using geostorage options because (1) salt caverns are known to successfully contain hydrogen, and (2) 20 there is more geotechnical certainty involved with salt storage as compared to the other three storage options. The 21 main findings illustrate that geologic limitations rather than city demand cause a larger disparity between costs from 22 one city to the next. For example Detroit hydrogen storage within salt caverns will cost approximately three times 23 more than Los Angeles with its larger population. Detroit is located near thinly bedded salt formations, whereas Los 24Angeles has access to more massive salt formations. Los Angeles requires the development of larger and fewer 25 caverns and therefore has lower costs. 26 27

Allocation of Ontario’s Surplus Electricity to Different Power-to-Gas Applications

“…In this present study, CO 2 from biogas digesters is considered as a potential CO 2 source for methanation. Figure 2 demonstrates the RNG-production where CO 2 is captured from biogas digestion [13,22,23]. .…”

“…Power-to-Gas-to-renewable natural gas (Methanation)[13,22,23].A recent series of publications have studied the implementation of different power-to-gas pathways in the Canadian province of Ontario.Mukherjee et al (2017) [24], Hajimiragha et al (2009) [25], and Walker et al (2015) [26] examined the utilization of hydrogen via power-to-gas in the transportation sector. Additionally, Walker et al (2016) [27] and Al-Subaie et al (2017)[17] studied the implementation of electrolytic hydrogen into the petroleum-industry, aiming to optimize GHG reduction and system cost.…”

The role of electricity storage and hydrogen technologies in enabling global low-carbon energy transitions

“…Several studies have demonstrated the availability of underground hydrogen storage in Northern Germany [66], Poland [67], and Romania [68], as well as the technical feasibility of hydrogen storage generally [69]. However, the availability of hydrogen storage options near large cities causes large cost disparities [70]. The costs of geologic hydrogen storage are based on CAES geologic storage and adjusted for their respective energy densities [54].…”

Transition of Future Energy System Infrastructure; through Power-to-Gas Pathways

“…A report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) compares these underground storages from different points of view including safety, economy (capital and operational cost), as well as technical feasibility [32]. The results indicate that salt caverns are the best option for underground storage [36,84], however, the storage cost of depleted oil and gas reservoirs seems to be lower based on a study by Lord et al [85]. The compression pressure levels can vary in the range of 20 to 180 bar for underground storage [86].…”

“…Lord et al [85] listed the levelized capital cost of hydrogen for underground storage for different methods including salt caverns and depleted oil and gas reserves to be in the range of $1.2-2.2 per kg hydrogen. However, the levelized capital cost of hydrogen storage is strongly dependent on the type of underground storage and the amount of storage.…”