Secure subsurface storage for a Carbon-Neutral Future

Including ERE Division Outstanding ECS Award Lecture

Convener: Johannes Miocic | Co-conveners: Joaquim Juez-Larre, Niklas Heinemann, Auregan Boyet, Huachuan WangECSECS, Shangtong Yang

Storage of energy (e.g., hydrogen, heat, air) and carbon dioxide in subsurface geological formations is of key importance in the transition to a carbon-neutral economy relying on renewables-based power and heat generation. As renewable energy implementation accelerates, there is an urgent need for developing reliable energy storage methodologies that better integrate low-carbon resources, and balance the distribution of energy networks. The suitability of subsurface storage sites depends on hydromechanical properties of the storage volume and its confining units, and integrity of seals, and their reaction to induced physical, chemical, and microbiological changes. Secure subsurface storage, as well as public acceptance of key enabling technologies, requires abundant geological knowledge, routine monitoring and sound evaluation of potential risks.

Underground energy storage systems (UES) in underground spaces such as legacy mine shafts/workings, and tunnels include underground pumped hydro storage, underground gravity energy storage, and other innovative approaches, have great potential. Considerable progress has been made in these technologies in recent years; however, there are still engineering challenges and scientific questions to be solved in developing reliable and safe UES, such as the evolution of geological, geophysical, and geochemical properties during long-term energy storage and engineering disturbances, integrity and durability of underground storage structures.

This session offers a platform for interdisciplinary scientific exchanges between different branches of storage expertise, and aims to address challenges concerning the storage of fluids and energy in the subsurface from core- to field-scale. We invite submissions encompassing theoretical analyses, laboratory experiments, numerical modeling and field testing in advancing understanding of multiple physics involved in subsurface storage. Case studies and operational projects integrating different elements of the storage chain, and field projects focusing on geological energy/carbon storage, are particularly welcome.