Exploring the Potential of Storing Hydrogen in Undeground Salt Caverns in the US.

As the world transitions away from fossil fuels and our energy systems rely more heavily on variable renewable energy sources, the need for methods of storing large amounts of energy at an affordable price has become a pivotal subject. While short-term storage (hours, days) will most likely be dominated by chemical batteries (lithium-ion), the crucial long-duration storage (weeks, months, years) options are scarce and still being explored. Storing hydrogen in salt cavern storage is one of the most promising emerging technologies for long-duration storage due to its large storage capacity and technical proof-of-concept. This paper analyzes the technical resource potential of underground salt resources in the United States as it pertains to the usage for storing gaseous hydrogen underground. We present a physical model derived from geophysical first principle to calculate the storage capacity of said caverns based on both ductile failure and brittle creep. We focus our geospatial technical analysis on the Michigan Salina basin and the Appalachian regions. We consider the techno-economic aspects of these hydrogen-filled salt caverns to identify regions of the highest economic value in the region