techno-economic feasibility of underground hydrogen storage in iran: a path to sustainable energy integration

Hydrogen, as an essential clean energy carrier, plays a pivotal role in energy transition due to its versatility, utilized across various sectors such as oil refining and chemical fertilizer plants. the global attention has shifted more toward storing hydrogen in underground porous structures such as aquifers, and depleted reservoirs to address the escalating energy demand and the urgent need for sustainable energy sources with low carbon emission. utilizing hydrogen involves production, storage and transportation through cost considerations along its value chain. iran is aiming to diversify its energy resources to align with global trends and is exploring hydrogen as an energy carrier to mitigate fossil fuel impacts and meet the escalating energy demand within its borders. thus this paper assesses iran s potential in producing, transporting, and storing hydrogen by highlighting technological and economic feasibility. in the first stage, it explores global hydrogen storage trends followed by identifying the potent subsurface storage sites considering the proximity to the consumers. a sensitivity analysis highlights the main cost contributors to the levelized cost of underground hydrogen storage (lcohs) including hydrogen generation, installation of generation and purification costs. this sensitivity analysis showed that the changes in hydrogen production costs notably impact lcohs. for example, with a $0.2 reduction in production cost, lcohs decreases by 8% and a $0.5 increase would raise it by 30%. besides, it is shown that by supplying energy in iran at the world price, hydrogen production and its use as an alternative energy source would be economical. commercializing hydrogen energy in iran relies on technological progress, and research to optimize the operations.