WHY EUROPEAN UNDERGROUND HYDROGEN STORAGE NEEDS SHOULD BE FULFILLED

WHY EUROPEAN UNDERGROUND HYDROGEN STORAGE NEEDS SHOULD BE FULFILLED

underground hydrogen storage has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the system;

We quantify that optimising the energy system to minimise costs to society requires important underground hydrogen storage capacities;

However we show that currently-announced projects do not meet the optimal storage needs of the energy system and a significant gap results; 

We demonstrate that under current conditions the market alone will fail to close the gap between planned UHS capacities and the optimal level for the system;

Hence, we recommend targeted policy intervention to promote UHS and support a more cost-efficient, integrated European energy system. Underground hydrogen storage has the potential to deliver significant benefits to the system Renewable and low carbon hydrogen will create a link between the electricity and gas sectors, with electrolysis using electricity as a key input for hydrogen production.

Electrolytic hydrogen will not only be a new energy vector contributing to the decarbonisation of otherwise hard-toabate industrial processes; it can also provide flexibility to the energy system as a whole – in particular through the ability to store hydrogen much more easily and at larger scale than can be done with electricity

Hydrogen Storage