Geological energy storage

Why is energy storage important in the geological subsurface?

Energy storage in the geological subsurface provides large potential capacities to bridge temporal gaps between periods of production of solar or wind power and consumer demand and may also help to relieve the power grids.

What is geologic energy storage?

Geologic energy storage is a practical solution that can store 100 or more hours of energy. Batteries are primarily designed for storing electrical energy, but geologic storage methods have an advantage of being able to store chemical and thermal energy (for space heating, for example) directly without conversion to electricity.

Does geologic energy storage still exist?

Much of the technol-ogy for geologic energy storage is still undergoing research and development (Crotogino and others, 2017; Matos and others, 2019), although several industrial-sized underground storage projects are already operating in the United States and world-wide (fig. 1).

How can geological formations ensure large-scale energy storage?

One way to ensure large-scale energy storage is to use the storage capacity in underground reservoirs, since geological formations have the potential to store large volumes of fluids with minimal impact to environment and society.

How can we assess geologic subsurface energy storage options?

The initial research goal is to compile a report containing recommendations on the geologic datasets needed and the key process steps required to build a probabilistic assessment methodology to assess various geologic subsurface energy storage options.

Can geologic energy storage reduce electricity costs?

An electrical grid that uses long duration energy storage projects with over 100 hours of stored power could result in the greatest reduction in electricity costs (Sepulveda and others, 2021). Geologic energy storage is a practical solution that can store 100 or more hours of energy.