Hydrogen usage and storage may contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by decarbonising heating and transport and by offering significant energy storage to balance variable renewable energy supply. Underground storage of hydrogen is established in underground salt caverns, but these have restricted geographical locations within the UK and cannot deliver the required capacity. Hydrogen storage in porous geological formations has significant potential to deliver both the capacity and local positioning. This study investigates the potential for storage of hydrogen in porous subsurface media in Scotland. We introduce for the first time the concept of the hydrogen storage play. A geological combination including reservoir, seal and trap that provides the optimum hydrogen storage reservoir conditions that will be potential targets for future pilot, and commercial, hydrogen storage projects. We investigate three conceptual hydrogen storage plays in the Midland Valley of Scotland, an area chosen primarily because it contains the most extensive onshore sedimentary deposits in Scotland, with the added benefit of being close to potential consumers in the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The formations assessed are of Devonian and Carboniferous age. The Devonian storage play offers vast storage capacity but its validity is uncertain due to due to a lack of geological data. The two Carboniferous plays have less capacity but the abundant data produced by the hydrocarbon industry makes our suitability assessment of these plays relatively certain. We conclude that the Carboniferous age sedimentary deposits of the D'Arcy-Cousland Anticline and the Balgonie Anticline close to Edinburgh will make suitable hydrogen storage sites and are ideal for an early hydrogen storage research project.

氢气的使用和存储可以通过使加热和运输脱碳并提供大量的能量存储以平衡可变的可再生能源供应，从而减少温室气体的排放。在地下盐穴中建立了氢气的地下存储，但这些盐穴限制了英国境内的地理位置，无法提供所需的容量。多孔地质构造中的氢存储具有提供容量和局部定位的巨大潜力。这项研究调查了在苏格兰多孔地下介质中储氢的潜力。我们首次介绍了储氢装置的概念。包括油藏在内的地质组合，能够提供最佳储氢条件的密封和捕集阱，将成为未来试点和商业储氢项目的潜在目标。我们研究了苏格兰米德兰谷地的三个概念性储氢区，该区域主要是因为它包含苏格兰最广泛的陆上沉积沉积物，并具有与格拉斯哥和爱丁堡市的潜在消费者接近的额外好处。评估的地层是泥盆纪和石炭纪。泥盆纪的储层具有巨大的储量，但由于缺乏地质资料，其有效性尚不确定。这两个石炭系油藏容量较小，但是烃工业生产的大量数据使我们对这两个油藏的适用性评估相对确定。