In Upper Austria was with one underground hydrogen storage presents a world premiere. The RAG Austria AG as the largest gas storage and thus energy storage company in Austria, the plant in gampering im Voecklabruck district in Upper Austria. Storage is in a underground pore deposit. There can “green hydrogen” are stored, which is produced from excess electricity from hydroelectric power plants, sun and wind in summer and stored for energy supply in winter.
The RAG – formerly Rohöl-Aufsuchungs Aktiengesellschaft – operates 11 memory and is one of the largest technical storage operators in Europe. Their capacities of approx 6.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas correspond approximately 6 percent go EU-European gas storage capacities.
Energy storage for the winter
In the demonstration plant presented on Thursday “Underground Sun Storage” become 4.2 GWh summer electricity – this roughly corresponds to the solar power surplus of photovoltaic systems 1,000 single family homes – Converted into green hydrogen and forced under pressure into a former gas reservoir. In this way, it is saved for the winter when the supply of renewable energy from wind is not constant and from sun and water is not sufficient.
hydrogen can be used for many applications, for example in industry, in heat and power generation and in mobility. In addition, its large volume speaks for the gas storage and portability in an almost invisible infrastructure. RAG CEO Markus Mitteregger refers to experts who up to 2030 in Austria alone from a seasonal energy transfer of 10 TWh per year go out. The demo plant in Gampern “is the first step in this direction, which must be followed by others,” he stated.
© RAG / Karin Lohberger Photography
Gampern/Rubensdorf is RAG’s first storage facility in which pure hydrogen is stored. In Pilsbach in the same district, a store since 2015 acted as Hydrogen test facility. Here were the natural gas only 20 percent hydrogen mixed in. Gampern is now not a research, but already one demonstration plant. It should be operational in the coming weeks. The investment costs are 15 to 20 million euros, 6 Mio. of which come as funding from the Climate and Energy Fund.
2,000 memory required
Storage in an underground porous deposit in over 1,000m depth could be groundbreaking, because of the around 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas storage in Europe, according to Mitteregger, there are around 85 percent in sandstone, i.e. porous rock. The customer in Gampern is RAG itself: “We are now building an 8 km long hydrogen line over the summer,” in order to then generate heat and electricity in a power plant with a gas engine,” announced the CEO.
Total conversion and storage of summer electricity for winter needs would be 2,000 memories as necessary in Gampern. However, RAG has much larger ones, so the number would be significantly lower. The cost of the technology for the end customer is not yet foreseeable. RAG sees itself only as a storage operator. The use of the stored hydrogen is the responsibility of the customers, such as industry or energy suppliers.
security of supply
Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) As Minister of Finance and Mining, he repeated in a video greeting the openness to technology in terms of energy sources propagated by his party. This corresponds to the stored green hydrogen as an important contribution to year-round security of supply. “At the same time, fossil natural gas is being replaced, thereby reducing our dependency.” Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Green) praised in a broadcast that RAG had succeeded in setting international standards and showing “how the conversion to a climate-neutral Austria can succeed”.
The Governor of Upper Austria Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) sees hydrogen as a key factor for Upper Austria as the number one economic and industrial state in order to make the location fit for the future. work on the project 12 Partner together, in addition to the initiator and technology leader RAG and others, also Energie AG Oberösterreich, EVN AG, Verbund, voestalpine Stahl GmbH, the Technical University of Vienna, the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences and the Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. The latter also works on the cost calculation.
