First assessment of an area potentially suitable for underground hydrogen storage in Italy

Hydrogen storage can help achieve climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents a first assessment of the suitability of northeastern Italy for underground hydrogen storage (UHS). The study focuses on the analysis of publicly available well data, which allowed identifying geological formations potentially suitable for UHS. The most promising area, known as the “Treviso Area” consists of both saline aquifers and depleted gas fields. One of the key petrophysical properties, i.e. porosity, was calculated for each of the five wells revealing conditions potentially suitable for UHS by applying empirical formulas to geophysical log data. For the two depleted gas fields, a hydrogen injection simulation was also performed. This work is a pioneer study and lays the foundation for hopeful further analyses, which could help implement the recently launched “North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley” initiative.