Sustainability in energy storages – How modern geoscience concepts can improve underground storage monitoring

Re-using of large-volume salt caverns for the intermediate storage of liquid and gaseous energy carriers is an indispensable step on the way to a sustainable energy economy. Continuous development of methods for monitoring these facilities is a crucial part of the social license to operate. In the research project "Monitoring system for the safety of cavern storage facilities using satellite and unmanned aerial system (UAS) data" (KaMonSys), safety solutions for critical infrastructures are implemented in an interdisciplinary approach of remote sensing and geoscientific methods. Using underground storage facilities (USF) as an example, multisensory approaches are being developed to monitor the facilities as well as their surroundings by satellite and UAS-based monitoring to detect possible emissions, such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The coupling of classical geological methods of subsurface assessment with innovative approaches from remote sensing shows a huge potential for further research. Although KaMonSys will initially be developed for a cavern storage facility, which have considerable relevance for the "in time" gas supply of Germany, the final process will also be applicable to other industries as a safety solution for secondary markets. This presentation describes the initial evaluation of available spatial data (INSPIRE and associated project partners Uniper and Salzgewinnungsgesellschaft Westfalen) on the surface/Subsurface situation, the integrated development of a 3D geoinformation system (GIS) to evaluate data and its usage for the development of 3D UAS flight plans. The project is supported by federal funds within the German BMBF funding framework "Research for Civil Security" (FKZ 13N15366).