Uniper is working to determine the feasibility and integrity of pore storage facilities to use for hydrogen, investigating the impact of hydrogen on porous rock formations.
Through the HyStorage research project, Uniper will inject different methane-hydrogen gas mixtures with a 5%, 10% and 25% hydrogen content in the natural gas into a smaller, former natural gas reservoir in three operating phases. It will then be withdrawn again following a standstill period of around three months.
A specialised gas-technical unit for the storage has been set up on a designated drilling site at Uniper Energy Storage’s Bierwang natural gas storage facility. Commissioning is taking place right now, before the first hydrogen will be injected from September.
Uniper Energy Storage is leading the project and will be responsible for the test, though it has the support of OGE, RAG Austria, SEFE Securing Energy for Europe and NAFTA. Hydrogen storage in porous rock reservoirs calls for an individual investigation of the sites required. The expertise of the project partners and scientific support of the test will ensure that the collected data can be fully analysed and evaluated, ensuring reliable technical assessments for the storage of hydrogen in porous rock formations can then be expected in 2024.
