Costain has been selected by Storengy UK to design the Keuper Gas Storage Project (KGSP), an underground hydrogen storage facility in Northwich, Cheshire, UK.
The facility will consist of 19 salt caverns together with hydrogen treatment, compression, dehydration and transfer facilities, and Costain’s multi-disciplinary engineering team will deliver two front-end engineering and design (FEED) contracts to support its development. The facility will be designed to store a working gas volume of approximately 400 million m3 of hydrogen, equivalent to storing 1,300 gigawatt hours of hydrogen.
The first FEED will look at solution mining, which will involve water being pumped hundreds of metres underground to dissolve the salt. The resultant brine solution is then extracted to create a cavern, with the salt solution transported from the cavern via existing underground pipelines to local customers.
The second FEED will focus on the gas storage facilities needed to receive hydrogen from the proposed HyNet system, a network of new and existing hydrogen infrastructure in the Northwest of England and North Wales. The design will cover the transportation, compression, and storage of hydrogen within the caverns, as well as its transportation back into the HyNet system.
Costain’s work is expected to complete in 2026 and will inform Storengy UK’s plans for entering the final investment decision for the project.
Costain has a successful track record designing and constructing gas storage facilities and has had a presence on the Holford brinefields for almost 20 years. It previously constructed the Stublach solution mining plant, comprising 20 gas storage caverns used for brine production and transportation.
Sam White, managing director, natural resources, Costain, says: ‘This is an exciting project that will enable a transformative hydrogen storage facility to improve the UK’s energy resilience and economic prosperity in the Northwest of England.’
Paul Snary, hydrogen director at Storengy UK adds: ‘The Keuper Gas Storage Project is a key initiative which, as part of the wider HyNet system, will help decarbonise both industry and energy generation in the Northwest of England and beyond.’
