China's First Million-Cubic-Metre Salt-Cavern Hydrogen Store Moves from Commissioning to Routine Operation
Four and a half months after it was commissioned in Pingdingshan, Henan, the demonstration store is reported in routine operation with 1.5 million standard cubic metres of hydrogen held in the cavern.
The deep-ground salt-cavern hydrogen storage demonstration project in Pingdingshan, Henan — described as China's first million-cubic-metre-class and Asia's first such store — has moved from commissioning verification to routine, stable operation. It was commissioned on 25 April 2026, and Qilu Evening News (齐鲁晚报) reported on 19 September that the cavern is holding 1.5 million standard cubic metres of hydrogen with operating parameters normal (1).
The store
The project was built at a site near Beipangzhuang village, Xiandai township, Ye county, on salt resources held by a subsidiary of China Pingmei Shenma Group. Investment is stated at RMB 77.72 million. The borehole depth is 1,418 m, and the targeted leached volume is more than 30,000 cubic metres, giving a stated storage capacity of 1.5 million standard cubic metres of hydrogen (1)(2).
Xinhua reports the programme as jointly executed by the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China Pingmei Shenma Group, with PetroChina and Sinopec among the units taking part in design and construction, and Henan Pingmei gas-storage and salt-chemical company (河南平美储气盐化股份有限公司) carrying out the build. The institute's team under Yang Chunhe led the technical work and fixed the 1,418 m depth (2).
The compression and the injection
Xinhua states that the project injects hydrogen with two compressors, at an injection pressure of 15 MPa and a rate of 2,000 standard cubic metres per hour, and that all indicators met the pilot-scale standard (2). The earlier industry-press account gives the same two-compressor, 15 MPa, 2,000 Nm³/h figures (3).
The project schedule is also published: construction started in November 2024; drilling was completed in April 2025; cavern leaching was completed in November 2025; injection and production wells were completed in December 2025; the surface injection-and-production station was completed in February 2026; and injection began in March 2026 (2)(3).
What the project states it demonstrated
The project states three firsts (2)(3). It is reported as the first time a hydrogen store has been built in layered salt rock anywhere — Chinese salt deposits are layered rather than the homogeneous salt domes used by mature projects elsewhere — with the multi-scale migration of hydrogen in ultra-low-permeability rock salt characterised and a site-and-layer selection method formed. It reports overcoming hydrogen-facing material corrosion and equipment sealing, with a low-permeability toughened well-cement system, hydrogen-embrittlement-resistant casing and a high-sealing wellhead assembly developed, and 100% domestic supply of key core equipment. And it reports a first "surface–wellbore–cavern" integrated monitoring technique covering ground hydrogen concentration, cavern seismic signals, wellbore vibration, the gas-water interface, pressure, temperature and leakage.
A parallel programme that is not yet at the same stage
China National Salt Industry Group (中国盐业集团) is running a separate, earlier-stage national programme. Its main construction works for large-scale salt-cavern hydrogen storage started on 25 July 2025 at Jintan, Changzhou, Jiangsu, under a National Key R&D Programme hydrogen-technology project carried out with Tsinghua University and eight other institutes and companies. The works plan two groups of caverns forming two hydrogen injection-and-production wells and two brine injection-and-extraction wells, for cyclic storage-and-release performance tests (4).
What the source does not state
The reports do not give the compressor model, type, drive, motor rating or staging; they give the injection pressure and rate but not the machines' suction pressure or discharge temperature. No cycle count, injection-withdrawal cycle duration, round-trip efficiency or availability figure is published for the routine-operation phase. The reports do not state the cavern's operating pressure range, the cushion-gas arrangement, the hydrogen purity delivered into the store, or the volume of hydrogen actually cycled as opposed to held. The 1.5 million standard cubic metres is given as a target at commissioning and as a held volume in the September report; neither report states a measured working-gas volume.
Where this connects on this site
- Salt-Cavern Hydrogen Storage: Why the Store Sets the Compressor's Duty
- High-Pressure Hydrogen Compression: The Pressure Ladder, the Sealing Breakthrough, and Where the Grades Now Stand
Sources
| # | Basis |
|---|---|
| 1 | The store reported as moved from commissioning verification to routine, stable operation; 1.5 million standard cubic metres of hydrogen held in the cavern; operating parameters normal; borehole depth 1,418 m; leached volume more than 30,000 m³; investment RMB 77.72 million; site near Beipangzhuang village, Xiandai township, Ye county; reported four and a half months after the 25 April 2026 commissioning — 齐鲁晚报（数字报）, 2026-09-19, A12, https://sjb.qlwb.com.cn/qlwb/content/20260919/ArticelA12002FM.htm |
| 2 | Joint execution by 中国科学院武汉岩土力学研究所 and 中国平煤神马集团, with 中国石油 and 中国石化 among the design and construction participants and 河南平美储气盐化股份有限公司 building; the institute's Yang Chunhe team fixing the 1,418 m depth and the cavern exceeding 30,000 m³; two compressors injecting at 15 MPa and 2,000 Nm³/h with all indicators meeting the pilot-scale standard; the construction schedule from November 2024 to injection in March 2026; the three stated technology breakthroughs including the first use of layered salt rock, the anti-embrittlement casing and high-sealing wellhead, 100% domestic key equipment, and the integrated surface–wellbore–cavern monitoring technique — 新华网, 2026-04-25, https://www.news.cn/politics/20260425/91c6095cdf8e4486b8d9cbfeae12830c/c.html |
| 3 | The same two-compressor, 15 MPa, 2,000 Nm³/h injection figures; the same construction schedule; the same three stated breakthroughs — 平顶山新闻网, 2026-04-25, https://www.pdsxww.com.cn/2026/04/25/991097789.html |
| 4 | China National Salt Industry Group's main construction works for large-scale salt-cavern hydrogen storage starting on 25 July 2025 at Jintan, Changzhou, Jiangsu; a National Key R&D Programme hydrogen-technology project on key technologies and test verification for large-scale geological hydrogen storage, run with Tsinghua University and eight other institutes and companies; two groups of caverns forming two injection-and-production wells and two brine wells; costs and volumes not stated — 中国江苏网, 2025-07-25, https://health.jschina.com.cn/jkjs/202507/t20250725_s68838524e4b0c83a06825968.shtml |