News Salt caverns and minerals across Australia unlock our nations hydrogen industry
Published:10 August 2022
Australia has the right ingredients to become a global hydrogen superpower, according to new data from the Australian Governments Exploring for the Future program.
Speaking ahead of Geoscience Australias inaugural Exploring for the Future Showcase, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King said scientists had uncovered the potential for large-scale, underground storage of hydrogen in salt caverns across the country.
We know that the technology exists to store hydrogen underground and thanks to this work we now also know that Australia has the right geology to support the development of an economically viable hydrogen industry on our own soil, Minister King said.
Geoscience Australia has uncovered potential for the development of multiple caverns underground in salt deposits across the Canning Basin in Western Australia, the Adavale Basin in Queensland and the offshore Polda Basin in South Australia.
Read Minister Kings media release.
Hydrogen salt storage involves producing artificial caverns in naturally occurring geological salt deposits (or diapirs). Underground storage is a safe and cheap alternative for large scale hydrogen storage compared to other forms, such as liquid ammonia or liquid hydrogen, or equivalent battery storage.