Barrow energy storage moves forward: subsurface design and capacity notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
EnergyPathways has secured a North Sea Transition Authority gas storage licence for the Marram Energy Storage Hub (MESH) near Barrow-in-Furness, which will use up to 60 salt caverns to store natural gas and later hydrogen at multi-terawatt, multi-day scale. The project plans to double Britain’s gas storage capacity, offering around 15 million m³/day deliverability and up to six days of national energy supply, plus 300 MW / 55 GWh compressed air energy storage expected to be the UK’s largest long-duration facility. Backed by Tier One partners Siemens Energy, Costain, Wood and Zenith Energy, MESH targets final investment decision in 2028 and start-up by late 2031, with co-located low-cost hydrogen and a proposed graphite production plant shaping Barrow’s future industrial load profile.
Technical Brief
- Storage licence has been issued by the North Sea Transition Authority, confirming subsurface gas storage permissions.
- The facility has UK government “nationally significant” status, influencing planning, consenting and strategic network integration.
- Compressed air energy storage is planned directly on the Barrow-in-Furness onshore site, co-located with gas assets.
- Low-cost hydrogen production is intended to decarbonise dispatchable power and supply adjacent industrial users in Barrow.
- EnergyPathways is progressing funding and long-term capacity offtake agreements ahead of the 2028 final investment decision.
- Tier One partners Siemens Energy, Costain, Wood and Zenith Energy are aligned for engineering, construction and O&M scopes.
- A proposed graphite production plant will anchor additional baseload demand, supporting utilisation of the storage and hydrogen assets.
Our Take
With up to 60 salt caverns and a deliverability of 15 million m³/day, MESH would sit at the large end of gas storage schemes in our Infrastructure database, signalling a move towards using legacy North Sea and East Irish Sea skillsets for grid‑scale flexibility rather than pure upstream production.
The combination of natural gas, hydrogen and a 300 MW / 55 GWh compressed air system positions Barrow alongside a small subset of the 23 keyword‑matched natural gas and hydrogen pieces that treat gas infrastructure as a long‑duration storage asset, not just a fuel supply chain.
EnergyPathways’ plan to co‑locate the Marram Energy Storage Hub with a proposed graphite production plant suggests a vertically linked cluster where hydrogen and long‑duration storage can underpin energy‑intensive processing, a model that could be replicated at other UK coastal industrial hubs if this reaches FID around 2028.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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