German energy company Uniper is to test an underground hydrogen storage facility near the North Sea as Germany looks to transform its energy system.
The facility in the northern Krummhörn district tests 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 high 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 approximately 1,700 metres, has a diameter of 16 metres, a height of 30 metres and a volume of approximately 3,000 cubic metres.
The storage room is conveniently located as the planned hydrogen pipeline network will run nearby.
Olaf Lies, Minister of Economic Affairs of the German state of Lower Saxony, said: “This project can play a key role in launching the German hydrogen economy.”
According to the minister, Lower Saxony will play a leading role in Germany’s energy transition thanks to its location on the North Sea and existing infrastructure.
The storage chamber is scheduled to be filled by the end of September. Uniper CEO Frank Holschumacher said green hydrogen would be brought to the facility by tanker.
If storage proves economically feasible after the two-year test phase, Uniper plans to expand the chamber for commercial use. This process could take three to five years and cost up to €500 million ($558 million).
The enlarged chamber would have a capacity of about 250 gigawatt hours.
Uniper owns three other gas chambers at 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 rooms 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. Locations along the hydrogen network in the states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia are being investigated.
Uniper is not the first company to test hydrogen storage in Germany.
The Oldenburg energy company EWE has been using a facility in Rüdersdorf near Berlin for some time now to test hydrogen storage.
