The gas storage operator Uniper Energy Storage has completed the first operating phase of HyStorage. On March 12, the company presented the interim results of its research project on the suitability of pore storage facilities for hydrogen storage at the Bierwang storage station.
In the project, Uniper is working with the companies OGE, RAG Austria, SEFE Securing Energy for Europe and Nafta Speicher to investigate the extent to which natural gas pore storage facilities are also suitable for storing hydrogen. A former natural gas reservoir is being used as a test site. The project group's engineers are not yet injecting the hydrogen here in its pure form, but as an admixture to conventional natural gas. They want to increase the proportion of hydrogen from 5 to 10 to 25 % by 2025. After standing for several months, the gas mixture will be stored and analyzed.
The team completed the first operating phase with a 5 % admixture at the end of January. The aim was to find out whether the technical facilities are fundamentally suitable for hydrogen storage. The data has been intensively evaluated in recent weeks.
Almost 90 % recovery
The result: during the 7-day extraction phase, almost 90% of the previously injected hydrogen was recovered. The performance of the storage facility had previously remained constant with a "very homogeneous hydrogen distribution" within the storage tank. Furthermore, the tested materials showed no influence of hydrogen corrosion, according to Uniper in a press release. In the coming project phases, the partners want to investigate whether the initial results also apply to higher hydrogen concentrations. Depending on the further evaluation, the second operating phase is to take place this year.
"The initial preliminary results are generally optimistic," commented Doug Waters, Managing Director of Uniper Energy Storage. However, it is still too early for a final classification of the porous rock formations in southern Germany for pure hydrogen storage. In general, the underground storage facilities in Bavaria are "of great importance for the security of natural gas supply in the coming years and, in the long term, for the transition to seasonal hydrogen storage" due to their large volumes and high injection and withdrawal rates.
