Storengy UK's Stublach underground gas storage plant

Storengy UK's Stublach facility lies beneath very ordinary-looking farm land off the of A530 between Northwich and Middlewich and it is the UK’s largest natural gas storage plant.

If nobody told you it was there, you’d probably never know, because apart from a small office block and control centre, which is at the end of a mile-long drive, nearly all the interesting stuff is deep, deep underground.

So you can all get a bit better acquainted with this truly fascinating place, here are seven things we’re almost sure you never knew about Stublach.  

1. It’s the size of 40 Wembley Stadiums

Each one Stublach’s 600 metre deep underground gas storage caverns is about the size of two Wembley Stadiums, one on top of the other. What’s more – there are 20 of them! 

And when they are full, they store about the same energy as eight large nuclear power stations can produce.

1. Nobody had to ‘dig’ them out

One of the great things about salt is – it’s soluble. So instead of having to dig out the enormous caverns by hand, engineers just had to drill a hole half-a-metre wide, pump water down it, and then wait two years.

There was the small matter of getting the water, or ‘brine’ as it then was, out again, but it is still a lot cheaper and easier than digging chasms out of solid rock.

The launcg of the Responsible Business Board's annual sustainability report (Image: Bob Baxter)

1. They took-out an awful lot of salt to make them

If the above make the task sound like a walk in the park, you should know it took more than 75 million cubic metres of water to form the 20 caverns, and the removal of more than seven million tonnes of salt over a nine-year period, at a cost of around half a billion pounds.

1. Wildlife

As the site is not open to public, for obvious reasons, it has become a bit of a haven for wildlife. Stublach is a real hotspot for brown hares, which are in decline in many parts of the UK, as well as muntjac deer.

There is as well as a bee species endemic this part of West Cheshire present, and staff at the site operate 33 hives.  

1. The site will be carbon neutral by 2025

Although Stublach is a natural gas storage facility, the site and its operations are realistically on target to be carbon neutral by 2025. And operators Energie doesn’t think carbon offsetting counts towards this – they say that it’s just cheating.

The site has its own a vast solar panel array, and in the summer, actually sends solar generated electricity back into the grid. They also have excellent electric car charging facilities, and do everything they can to limit unnecessary staff travel.

1. Staff just got an inflation-busting pay rise

The company has just awarded an 11.4 per cent pay rise to all staff, without them even asking for it. They also provided two ‘cost-of-living’ bonuses of £1,000 to all staff last year, which they say was very well received. I bet it was.

1. They have a ‘Responsible Business Board’

Stublach has a Responsible Business Board, made up of independent professionals and Storengy UK staff, whose job is to assess progress and recommend improvements in corporate responsibility to ensure the business sets and meets appropriately responsible targets for the way it operates.

They scrutinise transparency and accountability, employment practices, environmental and community support, and fair business growth.

Friday, February 24, saw the launch of its second annual Responsible Business Board Sustainability Report.

Board chairwoman, Christine Gaskell CBE, said: “There has been clear progress in all areas of the Charter and some targets have now been met or exceeded, reducing the need for routine Board scrutiny.

"This will now give us capacity to switch our attention on other aspects of the business, such as the transition to net zero.”

“We have now developed the Board’s role to engage more widely with the business.

“We will utilise the extensive range of skills and experience, especially in areas of energy, environment and business practice as a creative sounding board, as well as an impartial critical friend to maintain the focus on responsible business practice.”