WWU Intermediate Scale Hydrogen Storage Evaluation (HyWISE)
Abstract
As the hydrogen economy grows, the need for flexible, decentralised intermediate-scale hydrogen storage is becoming increasingly evident. While large-scale underground hydrogen storage in salt caverns and depleted gas fields will play a crucial role in long-term energy security, distributed intermediate scale storage solutions are essential to bridge the gap between production and end-use, ensuring reliability, efficiency, and resilience in hydrogen supply chains during the scale-up of the hydrogen economy. Decentralised storage facilities allow for hydrogen hubs to emerge in urban and industrial areas, reducing reliance on long-distance transport infrastructure and supporting regional hydrogen economies.
A key unknown is whether the land use and geology of Wales and South West England can support intermediate-scale underground hydrogen storage (UHS) technologies. This project aims to map and assess potential storage sites within the WWU region, aligning with broader energy infrastructure plans—including hydrogen and gas pipelines, electricity networks, industrial demand, and renewable energy integration. The project will use WWU’s geology and geography as a case study, and demonstrate how UHS options can support wider energy infrastructure in the region and beyond, as well as future project plans. For this reason, the outputs are expected to be of value to all networks.
To evaluate the feasibility of these storage solutions, the University of Edinburgh will analyse rock property and strength data from publicly accessible British Geological Survey (BGS) datasets, developing new insights into the engineering suitability of the region’s subsurface for hydrogen storage.
