Spanish energy firms Solvay and Enagás to repurpose salt caverns for hydrogen storage
Key Insights
Solvay and Enagás are partnering to convert salt caverns in Cantabria, Spain, into a hydrogen storage hub, supporting Europe's decarbonization goals.
The project leverages Solvay's existing salt caverns, originally used for soda ash production, for large-scale hydrogen storage due to their stability and low permeability.
Enagás CEO highlights the partnership as a milestone for Spain's hydrogen infrastructure, aligning with national and European clean energy targets.
The initiative mirrors Solvay's broader strategy, including similar projects in Germany and the UK, to repurpose salt caverns for energy storage.
Spanish energy firms Solvay and Enagás have announced a groundbreaking partnership to repurpose salt caverns in Cantabria, Spain, for hydrogen storage, marking a significant step in Europe's decarbonization efforts. The project will transform caverns originally created for soda ash production into a strategic hub for storing hydrogen, addressing the intermittency challenges of renewable energy sources. Salt caverns are ideal for this purpose due to their low permeability and chemical stability, enabling large-scale, long-term energy storage.
Etienne Galan, President of Solvay’s Soda Ash and Derivatives business, emphasized the project's alignment with the European chemical industry's role in enabling clean energy solutions. "This partnership underscores our commitment to sustainability and innovation," Galan said. Enagás CEO Arturo Gonzalo added that the collaboration is a "key milestone" in developing Spain's hydrogen backbone, laying the groundwork for a flexible and robust hydrogen network to meet national and European decarbonization targets.
The initiative is part of Solvay's broader strategy to repurpose its salt cavern assets for energy storage. The company has already explored similar opportunities in Germany and the UK. In Germany, Solvay partnered with Corre Energy to provide salt caverns for a compressed air energy storage facility capable of storing 80 GWh of energy. In the UK, estimates suggest that salt caverns in regions like Cheshire and East Yorkshire could offer up to 2,150 TWh of hydrogen storage capacity, though only about 10% is realistically usable due to geological constraints.
Globally, the outlook for hydrogen storage in salt caverns is promising, with the US leading in large-scale projects. The ACES project in Utah, for example, aims to become the world's largest hydrogen storage facility, supported by a $504.4 million loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy. While Europe faces regulatory and geological challenges, the Solvay-Enagás partnership demonstrates the potential for repurposing existing infrastructure to accelerate the hydrogen economy.