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

National Labs Support Safe Nuclear Waste Disposal by Studying Safety Material for Underground Sites

January 19, 2022

When it comes to nuclear power, the uranium at the heart of fuel rods is also this power source’s Achilles’ heel. When power plants shut down or the fuel rods in nuclear reactors become inefficient, the high-level nuclear waste resulting from the spent fuel created from running these plants could stay radioactive for thousands of years.…

Sizing Up the Challenges in Extracting Lithium from Geothermal Brine

December 5, 2021

This news release appeared first at newscenter.lbl.gov If you had a jar of marbles of many different colors but wanted only the green ones, how could you efficiently pick them out? What if it wasn’t marbles but a jar of glitter, and there was sand, glue, and mud mixed in? That begins to describe the…

Methane’s Short Lifespan Presents Golden Opportunity to Quickly Address Climate Change

November 10, 2021

This article appeared initially at newscenter.lbl.gov Oil and gas fields in Elk Hills, California are part of Berkeley Lab’s SUMMATION project on methane monitoring. (Credit: Andrew Moyes/Berkeley Lab) Sébastien Biraud is a Berkeley Lab scientist leading an effort to identify and mitigate some of the largest emitters of methane in California’s Southern San Joaquin Valley.…

International Nuclear Waste Disposal Research Effort Evaluates Maximum Allowable Temperature for Bentonite Buffer

September 28, 2021

Around the world in the many nations where nuclear power is used, isolating nuclear waste deep underground is deemed as the viable permanent solution. Geological repository for high-level nuclear waste, the type of nuclear waste created by the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, is usually a multi-barriers system that includes waste packages, engineered barrier system…

New Funding for Enhanced Geothermal Systems Research

The Berkeley Lab Geothermal Systems Program has been recommended for funding for two projects under a recent announcement by the DOE Geothermal Technology Office of a total of $12M in funding for seven research projects to advance the commercialization of enhanced geothermal systems. The first is led by EESA staff scientist Seiji Nakagawa, with collaborators from…

New Effort to Assess Caldor Fire Impact on Cosumnes River Basin

EESA Research Scientist Erica Woodburn has initiated a new effort to investigate the impact of the Caldor Fire on the Cosumnes River Basin. The team, which involves EESA research scientist Michelle Newcomer and faculty scientist Jackie Peña, has already begun working to measure water quality and ash/sediment in collaboration with a local citizen science field…