Hydrogen storage facility in East Frisia goes into operation

An underground hydrogen storage facility has been put into operation in Lower Saxony. 90 tons of hydrogen are to be stored in caverns. However, this is currently still in short supply.

Caverns are huge underground cavities in salt formations. So far, natural gas and crude oil have been stored in 75 caverns in the Etzel cavern field near Wittmund in East Frisia. As part of the Etzel Cavern Storage Transition (H2Cast) project, the company Storag Etzel has converted two caverns into hydrogen storage facilities. The project, which is funded by the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony, began in early 2022. Storag Etzel presented its plans the following year.

The work was completed at the end of 2024. Filling began at the turn of the year, as Storag Etzel has only now announced. The planned storage volume of 90 tons of hydrogen should be reached in the summer.

Difficult procurement of hydrogen

"After the expected initial difficulties in procuring hydrogen – you can see that the hydrogen market is still in its infancy –, several tons are now safely stored underground at a maximum pressure of 170 bar as of the end of January," said project manager Carsten Reekers. "We are proud of what we have achieved so far and have now shown that the existing facilities in the Etzel cavern field are suitable for hydrogen storage."

As the storage facility is not yet connected to a hydrogen pipeline, the hydrogen is delivered to East Frisia by truck and then pumped into the caverns filled with brine. Three truckloads arrive every week. In total, it will take around 200 deliveries to fill the storage facility. In the future, the storage facility will be connected to the hydrogen core network.

Hydrogen is considered an important component of the energy transition. It can be used to store electricity from renewable sources and for the production of clean fuels to replace fossil fuels. In industry, such as steel or glass production, the use of hydrogen could reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Storag Etzel plans to start building an above-ground test facility in the spring. This is expected to enable gas storage operation with the work steps of compression, gas drying and purification, pressure regulation, quantity and quality measurement from next winter.

Also in East Frisia, in Krummhörn near Aurich, the energy supplier Uniper is testing the underground storage of hydrogen. In Rüdersdorf near Berlin, a project run by energy service provider EWE and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will run until the end of 2024.

(wpl)