Salt structure information system (InSpEE) as a supporting tool for evaluation of storage capacity of caverns for renewable energies - Rock mechanical design for CAES and H₂ storage caverns

The objectives of the InSpEE research project are the development and deployment of design principles and basic geological/geotechnical data and of site selection criteria for the establishment of saU caverns as well as the estimation of the renewable energy storage potentials of the salt structures in the North German Basin. Cooperating InSpEE project partners are the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Leibniz University of Hanover, Institute of Geotechnical Engineering/Department of Underground Construction (IGtH) and KBB Underground Technologies GmbH (KBB UT) bringing in their expertise in the areas of sah geology and rock mechanics. Besides systematic collection and evaluation of geological information about salt deposits in North-West Germany thermo-mechanically based assessment criteria will be applied for the site characterization and estimate of its possible storage potential. At the end of the three-year project period, a publicly accessible "Salt information system" will be provided and in addition, the storage potential for caverns as well as for hydrogen (H₂) and compressed air (CAES) in Northern Germany shall be addressed. Within this paper the rock mechanical design for CAES and H₂ storage in sah caverns under consideration of thermo-mechanical coupled calculations will be presented.