German energy company Uniper is to begin testing an underground hydrogen storage facility by the North Sea, as Germany seeks to transform its energy system.
The facility in the northern district of Krummhörn will be used to test how materials and technology react with the gas.
Carbon-neutral hydrogen is expected to play a crucial role as a green fuel for industry. Experts expect a large demand for storage facilities in Germany.
Uniper, which was recently nationalized, is Germany’s largest natural gas storage operator and sees itself as a pioneer in the development of a European hydrogen economy.
The test facility in Krummhörn is located at a depth of around 1,700 metres, with a diameter of 16 metres, a height of 30 metres and volume of around 3,000 cubic metres.
The storage chamber is conveniently located, with the planned hydrogen pipeline network set to pass nearby.
Olaf Lies, the economy minister in the German state of Lower Saxony, said: “This project can play a key role in the ramp-up of the German hydrogen economy.”
Thanks to its location on the North Sea and existing infrastructure, Lower Saxony is set to take a leading role in Germany’s energy transition, according to the minister.
The storage chamber is due to be filled in late September. Uniper director Frank Holschumacher said green hydrogen would be delivered to the facility by tanker.
If storage proves economically viable after the two-year test phase, Uniper plans to enlarge the chamber for commercial use, a process that could take three to five years at a cost of up to €500 million ($558 million).
The enlarged chamber would have a capacity of around 250 gigawatt hours.
Uniper owns three other chambers in Krummhörn that were previously used as natural gas storage facilities and are currently filled with water.
If the test proves successful, these could be converted, and up to six new chambers could be built in the area.
In total, the company plans to develop hydrogen storage facilities with a capacity of up to 600 gigawatt hours by 2030, with locations along the hydrogen network in the states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia under examination.
Uniper is not the first company to test hydrogen storage in Germany.
The Oldenburg-based energy company EWE has been using a facility in Rüdersdorf near Berlin for some time to test hydrogen storage.
Source Agencies
