Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure

Grid-Scale Subsurface Energy Storage

Illustration depicting compressed air energy storage (CAES) in porous media systems. Illustration by W. Denn.

Understand and develop effective and affordable grid-scale energy storage in the deep subsurface, such as porous media compressed air energy storage, thermal energy storage, or hydrogen storage. Carry out research on capacity assessment, design of systems, performance analysis, assessment of risks, and specialized analysis of site-specific issues.

Overview

Grid-Scale Subsurface Energy Storage is an Energy Geosciences Division initiative within the Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure Program Domain.

Featured Projects

News & Events

EESA Scientists Contribute to DOE GTO Research on Critical Minerals

February 24, 2021

Scientists in the Energy Geosciences Division are contributing to research sponsored by the DOE Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) investigating the potential extraction of lithium, rare earth elements, and other critical minerals that are dissolved constituents of hot geothermal brines that are used to produce electricity. Far more information is currently needed, for instance, about…

Getting to Net Zero – and Even Net Negative – is Surprisingly Feasible, and Affordable

January 29, 2021

Regardless of the pathway we take to become carbon neutral by 2050, the actions needed in the next 10 years are the same. (Credit: Jenny Nuss/Berkeley Lab) Reaching zero net emissions of carbon dioxide from energy and industry by 2050 can be accomplished by rebuilding U.S. energy infrastructure to run primarily on renewable energy, at a…

EESA Members Invited to Join Pod: Unlearning Racism in Geoscience

January 27, 2021

This week marks the launch of a new education and training course called Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE). Funded by the National Science Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, URGE‘s primary objectives are to (1) deepen the community’s knowledge of the effects of racism on the participation and retention of Black, Brown, and…

Six Scientists Awarded EESA Early Career Development Grants

January 26, 2021

Six early career scientists have been awarded EESA Early Career Development Grants. Each project is aligned with the goals of the EESA Strategic Vision. The EESA Early Career Development Grant (ECDG) program provides an opportunity for early career scientific staff to develop new concepts, tools, and approaches with the potential to complement/enhance existing EESA…

EGD Postdoc Fellow Receives Young Researcher Presenter Award

January 21, 2021

Pramod Bhuvankar, an EGD postdoctoral fellow working with research scientist Abdullah Cihan, received a Young Researcher Presenter Award during the 2020 Computational Methods in Water Resources conference in December. His presentation, “Pore-scale simulations of permeability decline in porous media due to fines migration,” described a pore-scale CFD study of clay mobilization in porous media due…

Berkeley Lab Partners with International Collaborators in Geothermal Energy Research

January 20, 2021

Scientists from the Energy Geosciences Division have begun working with European partners on three new geothermal research projects through the Department of Energy’s membership in GEOTHERMICA, a transnational consortium that combines the in-country financial resources and research expertise of 15 participating countries to demonstrate and validate novel concepts in geothermal energy use. This marks the…