Leveraging digital twins for hydrogen loss mitigation in large scale salt cavern hydrogen storage

Abstract

As hydrogen continues to emerge as a key solution to decarbonise the global energy sector, interest in efficient storage solutions increases to meet rising energy demands and to ensure energy security. Large scale hydrogen storage salt caverns look to be a promising solution for hydrogen storage due to their ability to store large volumes of gas safely, as proven when storing natural gas in underground salt caverns. Hydrogen stored in underground salt caverns exhibits losses due to reasons such as gas migration, and the active chemistry they possess in addition to leaks due to damage caused by the cyclic loading on the cavern. Understanding the hydrogen loss pathways could help reduce financial losses and mitigate any safety risks imposed. Using SSE’s Aldbrough Hydrogen Pathfinder project, based in the UK Humber region as a case study, this paper aims to demonstrate how a digital twin can be utilised to evaluate and forecast hydrogen leaks by incorporating real time and historical data from sensors, geological information, and environmental factors to provide a holistic view of the cavern's dynamics. This research aims to facilitate early detection of failures and highlight possible intervention mechanisms and strategies for underground salt cavern storage used for green hydrogen storage.