THE ROLE OF UNDERGROUND MINES IN ENERGY TRANSITION: A REVIEW

19th WORLD CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATED RESEARCH CENTRES FOR THE URBAN UNDERGROUND SPACE, Belgrade, Serbia, November 4-7, 2025. (Paper No: 3.10.178,  pp. 551-559)

 

АУТОР(И) / AUTHOR(S): Dimitris Kaliampakos, Athanassios Mavrikos

 

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DOI:  10.46793/ACUUS2025.3.10.178

САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:

Driven by global population growth, demand for energy is constantly rising. The dependence on fossil fuels as energy sources results in ever growing CO2 emissions, which in turn contributes to climate change. The transition from fossil fuel dependency towards a sustainable, low-carbon energy system is considered as a necessity for the future. A shift to renewable energy sources is associated with several problems due to their stochastic production nature that poses significant challenges for grid reliability and energy security. A solution to this end would be to be able to store excess energy from renewable sources so that it can be available when needed. The main technologies that have been proposed are underground hydrogen storage, pumped hydro storage, compressed air energy storage and gravitational energy storage. Furthermore, nuclear energy has recently come to the foreground due to its zero carbon emissions and contribution to grid stability. A common factor among all the proposed approaches is the use of underground space, underground mines in particular, and the inherent geological and structural characteristics of underground environments. Underground mines offer considerable advantages to this end and the utilization and repurpose of abandoned underground mines presents a significant opportunity. The paper discusses the factors contributing to the need for energy transition and the main obstacles that hinder the wider use of renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the advantages of underground mines and underground space in general are analyzed. The most promising storage technologies are presented through notable cases and reviewed.

КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:

energy transition, climate change, underground space

ПРОЈЕКАТ / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

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