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On behalf of Uniper Energy Storage, Frank Holschumacher (Prokurist/Vice President Operational Performance Storages) (center) and Johann Westerbuhr (Head of Asset Group North) (right) accepted the funding notification from Lower Saxony's Environment Minister Olaf Lies (left). ©Uniper / Andreas Burmann

WASSERSTOFFSPEICHER IN KRUMMHÖRN (abgeschlossen)

The storage of hydrogen is enormously important for a constant energy supply with renewable energies. To this end, Uniper is investigating the construction and operation of a new salt cavern for the underground storage of hydrogen in Krummhörn. On Friday, July 22, 2022, Lower Saxony's Environment Minister Olaf Lies handed over a funding decision in the amount of €2.375 million for Uniper's planned hydrogen pilot project at the Krummhörn natural gas storage facility site.

News (26.08.2024): Hydrogen storage tank has been put into operation!

The hydrogen pilot cavern was put into operation in Krummhörn. Uniper plans to build up to 600 GWh of storage capacity here by 2030. More information.

News (13.12.2023): Bilfinger supports Uniper with hydrogen storage project in Krummhörn

Bilfinger will support Uniper in the future with engineering, procurement and construction management services (EPCm) for the above-ground plant technology of the hydrogen cavern in Krummhörn. The so-called "H2DRY" technology, in which moisture is removed from the hydrogen after it has been stored by absorption, will also be used. This ensures economical and efficient hydrogen treatment on a large scale, which is essential for storing hydrogen and then feeding it into the grid. Learn more

Unlike electricity, hydrogen can be stored over the long term and later used as a gas or converted back into electricity. This will allow us to balance supply and demand fluctuations in the future. But the existing storage facilities are designed for natural gas or oil and have to be converted for the use of hydrogen.

In this project, Uniper is focusing on developing new storage facilities and investigating how they can be built and operated. The storage facility in Krummhörn will be one of the first of its kind and is scheduled to go into operation by 2024. Uniper will invest around €10 million in the green future project with a storage volume of up to 250,000 cubic meters of hydrogen.

Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony Minister for the Environment and Energy

"The climate crisis and the war against Ukraine are forcing us to push ahead with the energy transition at top speed. It has long been clear that the energy transition cannot succeed with electrons alone. Hydrogen will be a central building block for the success of the energy transition. We need it to become independent of fossil fuels and to decarbonize our energy sector and industry. The advantage of hydrogen is that it can be stored. In order for it to develop this advantage, we need storage facilities, including caverns. I'm pleased that Uniper wants to use cavern storage for hydrogen here in Lower Saxony. We're happy to support this move. It's in all our interests that we go down it quickly."

Doug Waters, Managing Director of Uniper Energy Storage

"We are delighted about the funding commitment from the state of Lower Saxony. With the pilot project, we are gathering the empirical data that we urgently need in a world without fossil fuels: namely, how we can realize the storage capability of green electricity in a CO2-free future."

Conversion and trial operation

Uniper Energy Storage will test the construction and operation of a new salt cavern specially built for the storage of hydrogen on a large scale - at the natural gas storage facility in Krummhörn in northern Germany, which has not been used commercially since 2017. For this purpose, a new pilot cavern will be sol-technically constructed using an existing well. During the trial operation, equipment and materials will be tested for hydrogen compatibility, and experience will be gained in the storage of exclusively green hydrogen in a salt cavern and its delivery and further use.

Geographical advantages

Complementing the nearby Uniper site in Wilhelmshaven with the "Green Wilhelmshaven" project, Krummhörn offers ideal conditions as an energy location due to its geographic location near the windy North Sea and the energy technology connection to the gas and electricity grid that has existed for decades, thus strengthening the importance of the region and Lower Saxony as an energy hub in Central Europe.

The hydrogen pilot project "KRUH2" of Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE), which is also funded by the state of Lower Saxony, is ideally located in the immediate vicinity on the company premises. Here, the focus is on how green hydrogen can be produced on site using an electrolyzer and stored in small quantities to meet a plant's own needs for heat, mobility and electricity.

Source: Uniper

In Krummhörn, Uniper is investigating the construction and operation of an underground hydrogen storage facility. ©Uniper

About Uniper

Uniper is an international energy company with around 11,500 employees in more than 40 countries. The company plans to become CO2-neutral in European power generation by 2035. With around 33 gigawatts of installed capacity, Uniper is one of the world's largest power producers.

About Uniper Energy Storage

Within the Uniper Group, all competencies for underground gas storage throughout Europe are bundled in Uniper Energy Storage. Uniper Energy Storage operates natural gas storage facilities in Germany, Austria, and the UK with a working gas capacity of more than 7.5 billion cubic meters, thus making a decisive contribution to security of supply.

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