German energy company Uniper Energy Storage is planning to develop salt caverns in northwest Germany for the large-scale underground storage of hydrogen.

The company is aiming for a storage capacity of 250 to 600 gigawatt-hours by the end of this decade. It is now assessing existing and new sites along the hydrogen core network in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, Kallanish learns from a company statement.

“Investments in the development of hydrogen storage facilities require a regulatory and funding framework in order to achieve workable business models,” notes Uniper’s chief operating officer, Holger Kreetz. “However, we have concrete proposals that ensure a balance between the necessary hedging of investment risks and a competitive market model on the one hand, and security of supply through storage on the other.”

Emphasizing the projects would depend on the framework conditions and economic viability, Kreetz calls for a contract for difference scheme to achieve hydrogen storage in a “cost-efficient and effective manner.” 

So far, Uniper has developed over 80 terawatt-hours of underground gas storage capacity for natural gas in Germany, Austria and the UK, making the company one of the largest storage operators in Europe.

“As part of the hydrogen ramp-up, we want to repurpose some of our storage capacities and build new storage facilities,” adds Doug Waters, managing director of Uniper Energy Storage. “This will enable us to store renewable energy in the form of hydrogen for industries that are difficult to electrify and potentially later on for long duration energy storage, allowing for better management of volatile renewable energies.”

Uniper is already developing hydrogen storage projects in Germany, including the Hydrogen Pilot Cavern (HPC) in Krummhörn, Lower Saxony and HyStorage in Bierwang. The company is planning to further extend the Krummhörn site to a 250-GWh storage capacity, with the commissioning of the first commercial hydrogen storage facility in the site slated for Q3 2029. The company says an additional €200 million ($215m) will be available over the next five years to support the construction of the facility.

The firm is part of a group of 11 European storage system operators that launched the H2eart for Europe alliance last month to promote underground hydrogen storage in Europe. The initiative, aimed at achieving EU climate targets, includes RAG Austria, Nafta, OMG, Gasunie, HGS, Teréga, Snam, VNG, Storengy, and RWE.