Ground Risk: The Hidden Factor for Hydrogen Infrastructure Projects

Hydrogen Infrastructure is hitting the delivery phase of the development cycle. Concept designs are maturing into procurement-ready schemes with new facilities to produce, store and distribute hydrogen.

These schemes combine electrolysers, compressors, high-pressure storage vessels, process pipework, water treatment systems, electrical infrastructure, loading zones and more. They’re often delivered on brownfield sites where ground conditions aren’t known at the point of acquisition or at early design stage.

Projects of this type can’t afford to treat ground risk as a construction inconvenience. Electrolysers, pipes and vessels are expensive. Adding reactionary ground investigations and site-condition dependent redesigns at construction stage increases capital risk, delays programme and frustrates project teams.

Managing ground risk begins well before foundations are excavated. That's where Geotechnics comes in.

As an Engineering Driven Ground Investigation Partner, we help project teams make clear, confident decisions based on what’s initially hidden in the ground.

Hydrogen production and storage facilities aren’t trenches, buildings or housing developments. Many of the components used are heavy, movement sensitive and have unusual loading configurations. Facilities must also adhere to stringent safety standards and hazardous area classifications.

Layouts are dense and complex. Nearby plant equipment can include heavy static loads (coolers/heaters/storage vessels), rotating machinery and sensitive electronics. Tightly co-ordinated service corridors must consider differential settlement, unexpected underground obstructions, soft compressible strata, aggressive soils and groundwater.

Delaying geological understanding therefore isn’t just risky, it can cause extensive redesign, equipment re-ordering and contractual issues. Equipment is often highly specialised, with long lead times and limited tolerance levels.

Hydrogen projects need good ground intelligence early on in the project:

• Compressor bases, pipe racks and storage vessels may have strict settlement criteria, requiring low-risk substructures with known bearing capacity. These must also consider vibration generation and performance

• Heavy plant modules often require secure below-ground guide posts, ducting and containment services. Routing these through made ground or across buried utilities with unknown depth or conditions can be difficult

• Handling hydrogen creates void space under structures that can affect how buildings settle over time. Those voids can also collect contamination and ground gas if not considered at design stage.

Effective ground investigation anticipates these challenges, and many more, before they impact the project team. Derisking hydrogen infrastructure isn’t just drilling boreholes and getting soil samples tested haphazardly. It’s about understanding what design engineers need to know early:

• What foundation options are viable or non-viable based on bearing capacity?

• Settlement risks from made ground and/or soft compressible stratum

• Can excavated material be reused, or do contamination and disposal costs need to be considered?

• Will groundwater influence construction sequencing or temporary works requirements?

• What allowances are needed for ground improvement, piling, risk and remediation?

All these considerations play a role in framing projects correctly and limiting exposure to geological surprises at construction stage.

Few things are as important to project viability as budgets and timelines. Each hydrogen scheme will come with funding, planning and delivery pressures. Project teams need to make key ‘go’ or ‘no go’ decisions based on limited information.

Understanding the ground conditions is a critical part of that process. But traditional ground investigation reports are dense and difficult for non-specialists to understand. Project teams can struggle to correlate findings with their design or build implications.

Over many years of working with contractors and engineers, Geotechnics has developed a unique advisory reporting system that provides commercial clarity around technical ground risk. We do this by framing ground investigation around the questions designers and builders need answered, not just collecting data for data’s sake.

This isn’t a ‘nice to have’, it’s foundational engineering intelligence every project team should demand.

The shift to net zero offers opportunity for growth across many infrastructure sectors. Hydrogen storage and play facilities are becoming key sites of focus.

They offer the opportunity to diversify the UK’s energy portfolio without some of the environmental impact concerns raised by fossil fuels and nuclear power generation. Hydrogen also complements wind and solar generation, with storage facilities able to bank energy when weather conditions limit supply.

But as with any engineered infrastructure, delivery relies on confident front-end engineering.

Working with infrastructure project teams, from feasibility to construction, Geotechnics has witnessed firsthand the problems encountered by launching into design without sufficiently understanding ground conditions.

Ground risk isn’t going away. The pressures facing hydrogen storage will only intensify as programme deadlines approach. It can’t be oversimplified, dismissed as non-essential or left until groundworks begin.

At Geotechnics we consider ground investigation as a decision-making tool used to reduce risk, protect margins and safeguard programmes.