Uniper plans hydrogen storage in Krummhörn
Uniper wants to test the storage of hydrogen in its Krummhörn natural gas storage facility, which has not been used commercially since 2017. In order to test the demonstration project in a real environment, the energy company wants to sink a new cavern in the salt cavern storage facility. A storage volume of up to 250,000 m3 of hydrogen is planned. Uniper will invest around €10 million in the hydrogen storage facility, which is scheduled to be operational by 2024.
As Doug Waters, Managing Director of Uniper Energy Storage, emphasizes, the company wants to push ahead with the project independently of other subsidized projects in order to test the technology and processes as quickly as possible. The goal is to develop a storage solution for green hydrogen on a "commercial scale and later offer it on the market.
In Wilhelmshaven, about 80 kilometers away, Uniper is planning two other hydrogen projects that could be linked to the storage project in Krummhörn, East Frisia. Under the name 'Green Wilhelmshaven', a hub for hydrogen is to be built in the deep-water port on the Jade. The plan is to build an import terminal for ammonia, which will convert the imported hydrogen derivative back into hydrogen, and an electrolyzer with a capacity of up to 1 GW to produce green hydrogen.
The storage project at the former Krummhörn natural gas storage facility is also welcomed by SPD member of parliament Johann Saathoff. "Hydrogen is the energy carrier of the future. With the large-scale storage of hydrogen, we can become more independent of energy imports. This will make East Frisia, after the region of renewable energies, also a hydrogen region. This is an important contribution to the energy transition and an important step towards Germany's energy sovereignty."
