H2RESTORE
H2RESTORE
H2RESTORE
An innovative energy storage solution
About the H2RESTORE Project
This Project received funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program.
The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, and the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein.
We are exploring opportunities to repurpose our existing reservoir assets into underground hydrogen storage to shift energy seasonally
The Australian energy market is transitioning to a low-carbon and renewable energy future. As more renewables enter the grid and coal-fired power plants retire, balancing supply and demand is increasingly complex. Solving the “intermittency” problem is key to enabling the continued uptake of renewable energy resources.
Shifting energy from times of high supply and low demand to times of low supply and high demand is critical to enabling the sufficient buildout of renewable energy whilst retaining high reliability.
Just as grid-scale batteries can shift energy within a day, underground hydrogen storage has the potential to shift energy within a year. For example, from a sunny and windy mild day in Spring to a cold, still Winter’s night. This seasonal shift in energy could help avoid the overbuilding of renewables and thereby lessen the burden of the energy transition on regional and rural communities.
The H2RESTORE Project has the potential to reduce the cost of the energy transition by using deep energy storage to optimise the scale of wind and solar generation and associated transmission, which in turn could help ease pressure on energy costs.
Quick Facts
- Firming (security of supply) of the NEM is required due to coal-fired power station closures
- It is expected that 5GW of coal generation will close by 2030 and a further 14 GW of coal generation may become uneconomic by 2030
- The planned exit of coal-fired power stations mean there will be supply gaps, as the winter peak demand period is not aligned with the summer peak of renewable energy generation, which creates a need for energy storage solutions
- Deep storage is required to seasonally shift excess renewable energy from summer to winter
- As a result, Lochard are looking to develop currently under-utilised depleted gas fields and transition existing assets into underground hydrogen storage in the longer term
- UHS can be achieved through repurposing depleted gas fields – where hydrogen can be stored in rock pores under an impermeable clay or salt layer
- This allows for more efficient development and operation of hydrogen supply as existing infrastructure is already largely available on-site
- This storage method has been shown to be technically feasible, but requires pilot testing by Lochard before development at a commercial scale
