Safe underground Hydrogen storage IN porous subsurface rEservoirs

Hydrogen is attracting global attention as a key future low-carbon energy carrier which could replace hydrocarbon usage in transport
and fuel-intensive industry. However, to supply energy in the TWh-range necessary for Net Zero it requires storage at much larger
volumes than the currently deployed surface tanks or cavern storage. The next solution for large-scale hydrogen storage are porous
saline aquifers and depleted hydrocarbon fields. This perspective is scientifically attractive but remains technically challenging given
the lack of active hydrogen storage knowledge and experience. The main target of the SHINE consortium is to explore the feasibility
and address technical, geological, and hydrogeological challenges related to hydrogen storage across subsurface porous reservoirs.
SHINE will bring together 5 leading universities and research groups, from five European countries, and 5 industrial partners to deliver
new training and research skills to 10 young scientists. SHINE aims at providing this next generation of scientists with technical and
transferable skills to integrate geosciences, engineering, and microbiology techniques to find solutions to existing open questions in
hydrogen storage technologies. Our novel approach is to integrate analytical, monitoring and computing techniques to explore how
hydrogen may react with the subsurface minerals, fluids and microbial community potentially affecting the storage operations; model
the stress field changes across hydrogen reservoir/caprocks and monitor its geomechanical response during repeated injection/
production cycles. The expertly trained cohort of young research scientists resulting from the SHINE consortium will therefore
radically improve our understanding of this technology, implement and de-risk its application to potential projects providing the
necessary insights into underground hydrogen storage for decision makers in government and industry and contribute actively to the
EU transition energy