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Underground Energy Storage for Renewable Energy Sources
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Underground Energy Storage for Renewable Energy Sources

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 2074

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lin Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Subsurface Energy Systems, Clausthal University of Technology, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
Interests: large-scale underground energy storage; underground bio-methanation; CCUS; THMCB-coupled modelling
Prof. Dr. Michael Zhengmeng Hou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Subsurface Energy Systems, Clausthal University of Technology, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
Interests: rock mechanics; CCUS; underground storage of energy; unconventional gas; hydraulic fracturing; THMC-coupled simulation; subsurface energy systems; deep geothermal systems; petroleum engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid development of renewable energy is reshaping global energy systems, while amplifying the challenge of balancing fluctuating supply and demand across different timescales. Underground energy storage (UES) offers a diverse set of solutions by utilizing geological formations to store energy in various forms, including gases, heat, and mechanical energy. Compared with surface-based storage, UES provides large capacity, long-term stability, and opportunities for integration across multiple energy carriers.

Technologies such as hydrogen storage, natural gas storage, thermal storage, compressed air storage, and pumped hydroelectric storage can be applied individually or in combination, offering flexible pathways to support renewable integration, enhance system reliability, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Coupling UES with CO2 geological utilization and sequestration delivers additional environmental benefits, making it a promising approach for achieving deep decarbonization in energy systems.

This Special Issue welcomes original research, comprehensive reviews, and case-based studies that address fundamental processes, advanced modeling and experimental methods, and practical applications in underground energy storage for renewable energy systems.

Dr. Lin Wu
Prof. Dr. Michael Zhengmeng Hou
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • underground hydrogen storage
  • underground natural gas storage
  • underground thermal storage
  • underground compressed air energy storage
  • underground pumped hydroelectric energy storage
  • CO2 geological utilization and sequestration

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 3906 KB  
Article
Permeability Evolution of Impure Rock Salt Under Triaxial Stress with Implications for Underground Energy Storage
by Guan Wang, Jianfeng Liu, Michael Zhengmeng Hou and Shengyou Zhang
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(4), 2091; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16042091 - 20 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 604
Abstract
Impure rock salt is increasingly used as a host medium for underground hydrogen and compressed air energy storage in China; however, its permeability evolution under stress remains insufficiently constrained. This study presents a systematic experimental and modeling investigation of the permeability behavior of [...] Read more.
Impure rock salt is increasingly used as a host medium for underground hydrogen and compressed air energy storage in China; however, its permeability evolution under stress remains insufficiently constrained. This study presents a systematic experimental and modeling investigation of the permeability behavior of impure rock salt from the Pingdingshan (Henan) and Yunying (Hubei) salt mines. Nineteen cylindrical specimens were subjected to full-process triaxial permeability testing, including initial measurements, hydrostatic damage recovery, and staged deviatoric loading. A hydrostatic recovery stage (15 h at 40 MPa) was applied to reduce coring- and machining-induced micro-damage, resulting in a permeability reduction in one to three orders of magnitude. After recovery, the initial permeability decreases nonlinearly with increasing effective stress and converges to approximately 10−21 m2 at stress levels corresponding to in situ burial depths. During deviatoric loading, permeability exhibits a two-stage response: a rapid increase associated with early damage and microcrack initiation, followed by saturation once the dilatant volumetric strain exceeds approximately 1–2%. Impurity content influences both the magnitude and evolution of permeability by modifying the initial pore structure and damage development; however, the response is non-monotonic and region-dependent due to differences in dominant impurity mineralogy. Based on the experimental results, a semi-theoretical permeability model incorporating effective stress, dilatant strain, and impurity content was developed. The model reproduces the observed permeability evolution under different confining pressures with good agreement, providing a practical framework for evaluating the hydraulic integrity of impure rock salt in underground energy storage applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underground Energy Storage for Renewable Energy Sources)
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20 pages, 4864 KB  
Article
Research on Wellbore Temperature Field Based on New-Generation Microchip Logging Technology: A Case Study of Drilling Fluid Circulation
by Bo Feng, Long He, Biao Ou, Yan-Cheng Yan, Da-Liang Hu, Zhao-Rui Shi, Zao-Yuan Li and Xu-Ning Wu
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(23), 12823; https://doi.org/10.3390/app152312823 - 4 Dec 2025
Viewed by 644
Abstract
Significant thermal dynamics occur during both well construction and injection-production cycles in underground energy storage systems. Accurately determining the wellbore temperature distribution is crucial for optimizing drilling processes, enhancing energy storage efficiency, and evaluating reservoir thermal impacts. Existing measurement-while-drilling (MWD) temperature technologies are [...] Read more.
Significant thermal dynamics occur during both well construction and injection-production cycles in underground energy storage systems. Accurately determining the wellbore temperature distribution is crucial for optimizing drilling processes, enhancing energy storage efficiency, and evaluating reservoir thermal impacts. Existing measurement-while-drilling (MWD) temperature technologies are mostly limited to single-point measurements at the bottomhole, making it difficult to obtain a full wellbore temperature profile. This study proposes a novel microchip logging technology that achieves breakthroughs in power control and high-temperature resistance through optimized system architecture and workflow, with a maximum operating temperature of 160 °C and the ability to function continuously for 5 h under high-temperature conditions. Field tests successfully captured dynamic temperature data during the microchips’ circulation with the drilling fluid. The study established a temperature field model, applied the temperature measurement data to the model improvement, and analyzed the temperature evolution laws throughout the entire process, including bottomhole circulation, reaming operations, and microchip deployment. The model exhibits excellent consistency with the measured values, which is significantly higher than that of traditional models. The research indicates that this technology can be extended to temperature monitoring during cyclic injection and production processes in underground energy storage systems, supporting the design and operation of underground renewable energy storage (URES) systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underground Energy Storage for Renewable Energy Sources)
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