Gas storage company, RAG Austria has launched a demonstration project in Upper Austria to show how green hydrogen can be stored in an underground natural gas reservoir.
In Austria’s northern Gampern municipality, the system was finished two years after the project began. According to RAG’s statement from last week, it has the ability to store 4.2 GWh of summertime solar energy as hydrogen for use in the winter. This is the first hydrogen storage system of its kind in the world, according to the business.
By using this facility, extra solar energy from about 1,000 single-family houses can be converted into hydrogen and stored for the winter and summer.
The Underground Sun Storage demonstration project’s findings will make it easier to convert the current gas storage facilities to hydrogen and renewable electricity storage. Austria’s geological structure and existing storage capacity are two reasons why RAG believes it has enormous potential. According to the business, this enables the decoupling of renewable energy generation from its short-term use as well as year-round supply assurance.
Markus Mitteregger, CEO of RAG Austria, stated that by 2030, the demand for a seasonal energy transfer in Austria alone is anticipated to be 10 TWh annually.