Rapport 'Waterstofopslag in cavernes - Een maatschappelijke kosten-batenanalyse'
For a sustainable, reliable, and affordable energy system in the Netherlands and a well-functioning hydrogen market, large-scale hydrogen storage will become attractive, if not necessary, after 2030. It reduces the total costs of the energy system and partially prevents the costs of supply security interruptions. Estimates of the required storage capacity vary considerably.
Hydrogen storage can be useful for three reasons:
- To manage daily and weekly fluctuations in (mainly) the supply of hydrogen. The expected hydrogen use in industry will be predominantly continuous, while production from wind and solar or imports will fluctuate.
- Seasonal storage. Both demand (when used for heating) and supply (wind and solar) can exhibit seasonal patterns.
- Strategic reserve as a safeguard against disruptions in hydrogen production or supply.
To meet the required hydrogen storage capacity, underground storage in storage caverns is currently the most developed technology. The market will only pick this up when there are well-functioning business models for underground energy storage, while there are still significant uncertainties about this. In addition to the uncertainty in current estimates of the required storage capacity between 2030 and 2050, the principles for regulation, decision-making, and social embedding still need to be largely developed. The technology for storing hydrogen in depleted gas fields is being developed as an alternative or additional storage capacity. Another complication is the long lead time for the construction of storage caverns (around 10 years).