North Sea hydrogen storage could power UK for 7 years, says new research

17 June 2026

New research suggests the UK could store enough green hydrogen in depleted North Sea oil and gas fields to meet future electricity demand for up to seven years.

Scientists from the Durham Energy Institute (University of Durham) modelled hydrogen storage scenarios against half-hourly data on electricity supply and demand, using historical records alongside future energy system simulations. This included projected growth in electric vehicles, heat pumps, and data centres, as well as planned renewable deployment.

The study found that hydrogen produced via electrolysis – using surplus wind and solar power – could be stored underground in former oil and gas reservoirs and later converted back into electricity when needed. If deployed at sufficient scale, this system could remove the need for gas-fired power plants by 2040.

Researchers estimate that the UK’s depleted offshore fields could theoretically store over 3,500 TWh of energy, enough to cover projected electricity demand for around seven years. The modelling also suggests that, combined with strong renewable expansion, large-scale hydrogen storage could accelerate progress toward net zero.

Different scenarios were tested. Low-storage options, based on projects already in development, quickly reached capacity limits and reduced system flexibility. By contrast, high-storage scenarios using a wider range of North Sea sites allowed surplus renewable energy to be captured more effectively and provided reliable long-duration backup during periods of low wind and solar output. In these cases, reliance on gas power fell to zero by 2040.

The study also found that all scenarios reduced gas use significantly, with gas generation falling to around 1% of electricity supply by 2030. However, only extensive hydrogen storage enabled the system to fully balance seasonal and prolonged energy shortages.

The researchers argue that depleted oil and gas fields offer a major opportunity for large-scale, long-duration hydrogen storage, complementing more limited options such as salt caverns. They say this could also position the UK as a potential hydrogen exporter, depending on future infrastructure development and policy support.

Professor Stuart Jones, co-director of Durham Energy Institute at the University of Durham, was one of the authors of the research. He says:

“Hydrogen could be a sovereign asset for the UK, a truly independent resource, that provides energy without relying on potentially unreliable imports of fuel or materials. But to achieve that, we need to look at our depleted oil and gas fields, not just salt cavern storage. The North Sea fields are a known quantity, with existing infrastructure that could be adapted to allow for deployment at scale. We need to change our thinking on this and start to plan now for the next 20 years.”

Co-author Chris Groves, professor of engineering at the University of Durham:

“Hydrogen’s advantage is that it can absorb the energy surplus from renewables and provide power during periods of renewable scarcity as well as to power high energy sectors such as fertiliser, steel and glass production that are hard to decarbonise.”

Although the research models the UK energy system and geology to assess the role of hydrogen, the approach can be easily adapted for other countries. The research is published this week in Applied Energy and involved PhD students Zongtai Zhang and Joseph Brown.