I was wondering if these could be used to store hydrogen generated by solar water-splitting?
Could the hydrogen be piped in place of natural gas? Or combined with natural gas? seemingly "town gas" was primarily hydrogen [1].
Or it could generate electricity via combustion or fuel cell, providing dispatchable renewable energy with grid-scale storage :)
An averaged-size gas-holder has capacity of ~50,000 m^3 [2]. Gas holders store gas at essentially atmospheric pressure, so the stored hydrogen has an energy density of ~0.01 MJ/L [3] = ~10^7 J/m^3. So the gas-holder energy capacity is ~5*10^11 J = ~140 MWh
In comparison Dinorwig pumped-storage power station in the UK has an energy capacity of ~9000 MWh [4]
Hydrogen is explosive, corrosive, and it literally leaks through materials, unlike natural gas. Town gas may have had it as component but it sounds scary, unlike natural gas.
An averaged-size gas-holder has capacity of ~50,000 m^3 [2]. Gas holders store gas at essentially atmospheric pressure, so the stored hydrogen has an energy density of ~0.01 MJ/L [3] = ~10^7 J/m^3. So the gas-holder energy capacity is ~5*10^11 J = ~140 MWh
In comparison Dinorwig pumped-storage power station in the UK has an energy capacity of ~9000 MWh [4]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_gas#Composition
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_holder
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density
[4] http://www.withouthotair.com/c26/page_191.shtml