Aldbrough gas storage

Development of the site for gas storage was first mooted in 1992 by British Gas (North Aldbrough) and Intergen (South Aldbrough), then later again in 1997 at a proposed cost of £70 million, but by 2003, the two sites were under development by SSE and Statoil.{{cite news |title=Coastal gas storage scheme revealed |work=Holderness and East Yorkshire Advertiser |date=13 November 1997 |page=12|oclc=751702665}}{{cite news |last1=Mortishead |first1=Carl |title=Gas quarrel means trouble in the pipeline |work=The Times |issue=67690 |date=19 February 2003 |page=28|issn=0140-0460}}{{cite news |title=Aldbrough Underground Gas Storage Facility, Yorkshire |url=https://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/aldbrough-underground-gas-storage-facility/ |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=Offshore Technology |date=22 February 2012}} The storage caverns, which are {{convert|100|m}} tall by {{convert|100|m}} wide, are located in the Permian salt deposits between {{convert|1,700|m}} and {{convert|1,800|m}} below the surface,{{sfn|Highley|Bloodworth|Bate|2006|p=5}} and the site lies some {{convert|2.5|km}} south-east of Aldbrough village.{{cite web |title=Aldbrough Hydrogen Storage - Project information |url=https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN030003 |website=national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk |access-date=7 May 2025}} The storage sites were created to ensure a security of supply of gas into the UK market and as a buffer if gas import terminals were to go offline.{{cite news |title=The Times; need to know: The essential daily guide to the sectors |work=The Times |issue=67628 |date=7 December 2002 |page=63|issn=0140-0460}} Caverns carved out of salt deposits are "ideally suited for the creation of storage cavities for gas and certain fluids.{{sfn|Highley|Bloodworth|Bate|2006|p=1}} The waste extracted salt was simply washed into the sea, but other salt caverns used to store gas in the UK (such as in Teesside, Cheshire and Lancashire) were as a result of solution mining the salt for chemical processes and using the voids left behind. The caverns at Aldbrough (and nearby Atwick) in the East Riding of Yorkshire, were specifically created to store gas.{{cite news |last1=Rooney |first1=Ron |title=Details sought on gas caverns plan |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=27 April 1992 |page=5}}{{sfn|Highley|Bloodworth|Bate|2006|p=2}}

By 2007, the facility was Britain's largest onshore storage site for natural gas and by 2010, the three SSE caverns could store {{convert|100,000,000|m3}} of gas, and the company opened a fourth cavern that same year.{{cite news |title=Database energy|work=The Daily Telegraph |issue=47,267 |date=25 May 2007 |location=Business |page=44|issn=0307-1235}}{{cite news |last1=Mason |first1=Rowena |title=SSE customers turn down the heat |work=The Daily Telegraph |issue=48,109 |date=4 February 2010 |location=Business |page=B5 (37)|issn=0307-1235}} This represented a gas source capable of generating 8,800 gwh of electricity annually.{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=D. A. |last2=Chadwick |first2=R. A. |title=Underground gas storage: worldwide experiences and future development in the UK and Europe |date=2009 |publisher=Geological Society |location=London |isbn=9781862392724 |page=23}} The site reached completion in 2011, and has the capacity to store {{convert|276,000,000|m3}} of gas.{{cite web |title=Aldbrough {{!}} SSE Thermal |url=https://www.ssethermal.com/energy-storage/aldbrough/ |website=ssethermal.com |access-date=28 April 2025}} In 2017 Centrica closed their gas storage facility under the North Sea (Rough), since then, the Aldbrough site represents the largest gas storage facility on the eastern coast of England, having between 17–19% of Britain's gas storage capacity (variable due to the capacity and storage volumes at other sites).{{cite news|last=Gosden |first=Emily |date=15 July 2021 |title=Aldbrough gas storage site could be converted to hold hydrogen|work=The Times |page=39|id={{Gale|A668571099}} }}{{efn-lr|In 2023, the following locations were storing gas for supply into the UK gas network when peak demand outstripped normal supply: Stublach (23%), Aldbrough (19%), Hornsea (17%), Humbly Grove (17%), Holford (13%), Hatfield Moor (7%), Holehouse Farm (3%), and Hill Top Farm (1%).{{sfn|Jahanbakhsh |Louis Potapov-Crighton |Mosallanezhad |Tohidi Kaloorazi|2024|p=19}}|name=Gas locations|group=note}} Each of the nine caverns can comfortably hold St Paul's Cathedral within them.{{cite news |last1=Laister |first1=David |title=Equinor and SSE announce Humber hydrogen storage plan |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=21 July 2021 |location=Business |page=3|issn=1741-3419}}

In July 2021, both SSE and Equinor announced that were considering either repurposing the salt caverns for hydrogen storage, or creating nine newer caverns using pumped seawater to clear the salt layer out.{{cite journal |last1=Geels |first1=Frank W. |last2=Sovacool |first2=Benjamin K. |last3=Iskandarova |first3=Marfuga |title=The socio-technical dynamics of net-zero industrial megaprojects: Outside-in and inside-out analyses of the Humber industrial cluster |journal=Energy Research & Social Science |date=April 2023 |volume=98 |page=13 |doi=10.1016/j.erss.2023.103003}}{{cite news |last1=Wood |first1=Alexandra |title=Building of hydrogen storage site could start in three years |work=The Yorkshire Post |date=5 September 2023 |page=2|issn=0963-1496}} Development of the site to store hydrogen as ({{chem2|H2}}) was proposed as part of a low carbon economy for the United Kingdom. Hydrogen storage is nothing new to UK industries, {{chem2|H2}} has been routinely stored in salt caverns underneath Teesside since the 1970s.{{cite journal |last1=Ramesh Kumar |first1=Kishan |last2=Honorio |first2=Herminio |last3=Chandra |first3=Debanjan |last4=Lesueur |first4=Martin |last5=Hajibeygi |first5=Hadi |title=Comprehensive review of geomechanics of underground hydrogen storage in depleted reservoirs and salt caverns |journal=Journal of Energy Storage |date=December 2023 |volume=73 |page=13 |doi=10.1016/j.est.2023.108912 |publisher=Elsevier |location=Oxford |issn=2352-152X}} The site on Teesside was completed in 1972, and consists of three caverns, each with the ability to store {{convert|70,000|m3}} (a total of {{convert|210,000|m3}} at a depth of {{convert|350|m}} below ground, with a ratio of 95% ({{chem2|H2}}), and 3-4% {{CO2}}.{{cite journal |last1=Miocic |first1=Johannes |last2=Heinemann |first2=Niklas |last3=Edlmann |first3=Katriona |last4=Scafidi |first4=Jonathan |last5=Molaei |first5=Fatemeh |last6=Alcalde |first6=Juan |title=Underground hydrogen storage: a review |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |date=30 August 2023 |volume=528 |issue=1 |page=78 |doi=10.1144/sp528-2022-88 |publisher=The Geological Society of London |issn=0305-8719}} Initial projections for storage at the Aldbrough site were in the region of enough ({{chem2|H2}}) to generate 320 gigawatt hours (GWH).{{cite journal |last1=Ma |first1=Nan |last2=Zhao |first2=Weihua |last3=Wang |first3=Wenzhong |last4=Li |first4=Xiangrong |last5=Zhou |first5=Haiqin |title=Large scale of green hydrogen storage: Opportunities and challenges |journal=International Journal of Hydrogen Energy |date=January 2024 |volume=50 |page=382 |doi=10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.021}}

The hydrogen will be generated onsite from water by using an elctrolyser (green hydrogen), and then stored for available use when renewables cannot meet peak demand.{{cite web |last1=Armitage |first1=Tim |title=Underground hydrogen storage: insights and actions to support the energy transition|url=https://www.bgs.ac.uk/download/science-briefing-note-underground-hydrogen-storage-insights-and-actions-to-support-the-energy-transition/ |website=bgs.ac.uk |access-date=14 May 2025 |page=3 |date=February 2025}}{{cite news |editor-last1=Mitchinson |editor-first1=James |title=Meetings on plan to use cave for hydrogen |work=The Yorkshire Post |date=1 June 2023 |page=5|issn=0963-1496}} For example, in December 2022, a cold snap in the United Kingdom forced the National Grid to pay inflated prices to operators of peak power gas generation plants when wind farms could not generate enough electricity due to a lack of wind.{{cite news |last1=Lawson |first1=Alex |title=SSE begins work on hydrogen storage cavern on Yorkshire coast |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/18/sse-begins-work-on-hydrogen-storage-cavern-on-yorkshire-coast#:~:text=SSE%20begins%20work%20on%20hydrogen%20storage%20cavern%20on%20Yorkshire%20coast,-This%20article%20is&text=The%20energy%20company%20SSE%20has,last%20week%20occur%20in%20future. |access-date=29 April 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=18 December 2022}} The two onsite companies would use green energy to produce the hydrogen, store it on site, and then burn it to produce clean energy when the system demands it.{{cite news |date=7 April 2025 |title=SSE and Equinor's first-of-a-kind hydrogen project advanced by Government|work=Contify Energy News|id={{Gale|A837062360}} }} In April 2025, East Riding Council approved plans for the £350–£400 million project, which includes nine new caverns, surface buildings, a stack some {{convert|30|m}} high to vent water vapour, and a pipeline to send the gas elsewhere such as Salt End or Keadby.{{cite news |last1=Wood |first1=Alexandra |title=Hydrogen-powered plant backed despite 'industrialisation' fears |work=The Yorkshire Post |date=26 April 2025 |page=6|issn=0963-1496}}

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite report |last1=Highley |first1=David |last2=Bloodworth |first2=Andrew |last3=Bate |first3=Richard |title=Mineral planning factsheet : salt |date=2006 |publisher=British Geological Survey |location=Keyworth|url=https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/534431/1/mpf_salt.pdf|website=nora.nerc.ac.uk|oclc=1379321153|access-date=28 April 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Jahanbakhsh |first1=Amir |last2=Louis Potapov-Crighton |first2=Alexander |last3=Mosallanezhad |first3=Abdolali |last4=Tohidi Kaloorazi |first4=Nina |last5=Maroto-Valer |first5=M. Mercedes |title=Underground hydrogen storage: A UK perspective |journal=Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews |date=January 2024 |volume=189 |doi=10.1016/j.rser.2023.114001}}

• [https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1364032123008596-ga1_lrg.jpg Underground storage diagram]

{{Natural gas infrastructure of the United Kingdom}}

Category:2009 establishments in England

Category:Buildings and structures in the East Riding of Yorkshire

Category:Economy of the East Riding of Yorkshire

Category:Energy infrastructure completed in 2009

Category:Natural gas infrastructure in the United Kingdom

Category:Natural gas plants

Category:Natural gas terminals

Category:North Sea energy

Category:Science and technology in the East Riding of Yorkshire