Underground hydrogen storage

Whether you want to develop a new underground storage facility or repurpose an exhausted fossil fuel reservoir, our team will help you determine the optimal location and its storage potential. With this important step, we help you create the framework for the best possible implementation.

Thanks to our expertise, we know what conditions (temperature, salinity, pressure, etc.) should prevail in a storage facility for optimal operation. In our new hydrogen lab, we determine how the rock reacts chemically to the stored hydrogen so that our customers can benefit from safe and trouble-free storage operation in the long term. With our measurements of H₂ storage capacity and the impermeability of the rock and other components, we help you estimate and minimize capacities and losses – to increase efficiency and yield.

Assessing the geological subsurface can sometimes be very complex, and the available data can be very limited. That is why our simulation team uses commercial and non-commercial software solutions to simulate the physical processes involved in feeding, storing, and withdrawing hydrogen into and from the subsurface on a computer.

With detailed parameter studies, we help our customers quantify the uncertainties associated with the storage potential of a reservoir and develop an optimization strategy for implementation. This includes, for example, determining the ideal amount of cushion gas or the optimal operating conditions to ensure both the highest purity of the extracted H₂ and the long-term stability and operability of the underground storage facility. In addition to calculating relevant performance parameters, our service also includes a meaningful visualization of the simulation results, which helps our customers make informed decisions for their project. 

As a pioneering technology, the implementation of an underground hydrogen storage project sometimes involves considerable investment. This makes it all the more important for our customers to obtain estimates of economic efficiency and costs in advance so that they can make groundbreaking decisions that make economic sense. We therefore support you in estimating the costs of hydrogen storage. This also includes important components of the above-ground storage facility, such as hydrogen-compatible compressors and fittings.

At Fraunhofer IEG, we also combine this service with detailed supply and demand analyses regarding the transport and distribution of hydrogen in Germany and Europe. This enables us to provide you with comprehensive technical and economic assessments for a wide range of possible scenarios for a hydrogen economy.

Based on our preliminary assessments, we also support you in the concrete implementation of your storage project. We offer detailed planning services for storage wells, assess boreholes for integrity, and evaluate the convertibility of existing natural gas storage facilities for hydrogen storage. Our expertise in the field of well refurbishment rounds off our range of services for the development of your planned storage facility. 

System integrity is crucial for safe H₂ storage. We test wellbore components for their hydrogen compatibility, both in our laboratory and in collaboration with external partners. Our team includes wellbore integrity experts recognized by the Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy, and Geology.

Based on geophysical borehole data, we assess the integrity of your storage system and support you in planning and preparing customized measurement campaigns specifically designed for underground gas storage.