The site where the new salt cavern is being built.

Image: EWE

German energy provider EWE has started the construction of a cavern for hydrogen storage in Rüdersdorf, near Berlin.

The cavern storage facility will have a capacity of 500 cubic meters, which corresponds to the volume of a single-family house. The company is working with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on this project.

The DLR Institute for Networked Energy Systems will examine, among other things, the quality of the hydrogen during storage and after it has been extracted from the cavern.

In the first stage of the project, EWE will build a derrick on an existing borehole and this work is expected to take a week. The utility will then install and cement a steel pipe from the surface to a depth of 1,000 meters by the beginning of April. This will connect the pilot cavern with the earth's surface.  

“In the context of the research project, we particularly hope to gain knowledge of the degree of purity of the hydrogen after it has been withdrawn from the cavern,” said EWE project manager Hayo Seeba. This factor is crucial for the use of hydrogen in the mobility sector.

The knowledge that the small pilot cavern will provide should be easily transferable to caverns with a volume that is 1,000 times higher, the company went on to say. The aim is to use caverns with a volume of 500,000 cubic meters for large scale hydrogen storage in the future.

EWE owns 37 salt caverns that represent 15% of all German cavern storage facilities that could be suitable for storing hydrogen in the future. “This would mean that large quantities of green hydrogen generated from renewable energies could be stored and used as required and would become an indispensable component in order to achieve set climate targets,” Seeba added. 

Scientists at Germany’s Jülich Institute for Energy and Climate Research (IEK-3) recently revealed that Europe has the potential to inject hydrogen in bedded salt deposits and salt domes with a total energy storage capacity of 84.8 PWh. Most of these salt caverns are concentrated in northern Europe, at offshore and onshore locations. Germany accounts for the largest share, followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, and Poland. Other potential sites are in Romania, France, Spain, and Portugal.

“Germany has the highest storage potential in both onshore and offshore contexts,” the group said.

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-usa.com, and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-usa.com)

IBE estimates that the offtake agreements for its Project NEO will amount to over $7.5 billion.

Image: Horizon Power

Perth-based Infinite Blue Energy (IBE) has unveiled a bold plan to deliver Australia’s first green hydrogen baseload power plant that could change the electricity landscape in New South Wales (NSW). Project NEO is initially focused on providing 1000 MW of green hydrogen using solar, wind and hydrogen fuel cells for 24/7 electricity supply.

The project, which will commence with a feasibility study and detailed design over the next 18 months, aims to transition energy-intensive, fossil fuel-dependent industries in NSW to 100% renewables by 2027. To provide reliable baseload power, NEO will use solar and wind to produce hydrogen, a certain amount of which will be stored in fuel cells and available when there is no wind or sun, on cloudy days and at night. 

“The vision at IBE is to show the world, first and foremost, that Australia has the technology, skills and entrepreneurial mindset to be a true leader in the development of green hydrogen plants,” IBE CEO Stephen Gauld said. “We are currently in robust negotiations with major electricity users in the NSW Hunter Region that have confirmed their intentions to transition to green hydrogen baseload electricity this decade.”

Led by a team with substantial experience in the oil and gas sector, IBE has only recently appeared on the Australian energy scene. In April, the company unveiled plans for the first of its many green hydrogen projects in Western Australia (WA), announcing an initial $300 million investment for its first phase of construction. Other companies that have announced gigawatt-scale plans in WA include BP Australia, which is looking to develop around 1.5 GW of greenfield solar and wind projects for its green hydrogen and ammonia plans, and Siemens, which aims to produce green hydrogen for local industry and export to Asia from up to 5 GW of wind and solar capacity.

Another megaproject underway in WA is the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), which could feature up to 15 GW of solar and wind capacity with the goal to supply local energy users in the Pilbara region and develop a green hydrogen manufacturing hub for domestic use and export to Asia. Recently, AREH has moved forward after being recommended for environmental approval.

Fast-tracking NSW’s energy transition

Project NEO, which comes with a $2.7 billion price tag, is expected to feature 235 wind turbines and a PV array covering approximately 1,250 hectares of land. The cumulative renewable energy capacity will stand at around 3.5 GW and will be deployed at high-value sites for solar and wind production, in combination with a “distributed generation model”. “This allows the generation sites to blend in with existing land users with minimal impact,” IBE says.

Over 2 million NSW homes stand to benefit from Project NEO, the company says, in addition to other economic benefits. IBE anticipates that a significant proportion of the workforce required for Project NEO will be drawn from the existing coal-fired power stations in NSW, since many of the skills are similar.

“Project NEO will produce local and indirect employment, allow existing industries to decarbonize, and facilitate the establishment of new industries,” Gauld says. “It will localize manufacturing, give a 100% green supply of power to NSW, fuel the reduction of the state’s carbon emissions and can therefore play a pivotal role in ultimately helping Australia become leaders in carbon emission reduction.”

This article originally appeared on pv-magazine-australia.com and has been republished with permission by pv magazine (www.pv-magazine.com and www.pv-magazine-australia.com).