Enabling secure subsurface storage in future energy systems: an introduction

Geological structures in the subsurface have been used for the storage of energy and waste products for over a century. Depleted oil and gas fields, saline aquifers or engineered caverns in salt or crystalline rocks are used worldwide to store energy fluids intended to provide demand buffers and sustained energy supply. The transition of our energy system into a clean, renewable-based system will most likely require an expansion of these subsurface storage activities, to host a wide variety of energy products (e.g. natural gas, hydrogen, heat or waste energy products, like CO₂) to balance the inherent intermittence of the renewable energy supply. Ensuring the safety and effectiveness of these subsurface storage operations is therefore crucial to achieve the sought-after renewable energy transition while ensuring energy security.