The Growing Role of Hydrogen in Europe and Beyond
Hydrogen is rapidly gaining traction as a critical component of the global energy landscape. As a cornerstone of the European Green Deal, hydrogen is pivotal for Europe’s transition to clean energy. It serves multiple functions: as a feedstock, fuel, energy carrier, and storage solution, with wide-ranging applications across industry, transport, electricity, and buildings. Most notably, hydrogen produces no CO2 emissions and virtually no air pollution, making it a key player in decarbonizing industrial processes and challenging sectors.
Renewable energy sources alone will not fully meet the EU’s decarbonization goals by 2050. Hydrogen offers a vital solution by serving as a carrier for renewable energy storage, addressing seasonal variations and supporting the EU’s commitment to carbon neutrality. It is also essential for achieving global climate targets under the Paris Agreement and the zero-pollution ambition.
The recent REPowerEU plan from the European Commission highlights the urgent need to scale up renewable hydrogen production. The plan aims to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen in Europe and import an additional 10 million tonnes by 2030, including 6 million tonnes of hydrogen and 4 million tonnes of derivatives. To support this ambitious goal, extensive development of underground hydrogen storage facilities is necessary to manage supply and demand fluctuations and ensure reliable supply for key industries.
A robust EU-wide logistics infrastructure is also critical. Establishing a comprehensive pan-European network and large-scale underground hydrogen storage systems will be key to achieving these objectives and supporting Europe’s energy transition.
FrHyGe Origins
FrHyGe builds on the pioneering work of Storengy, Europe’s leader in energy storage. In January 2021, Storengy launched the HyPSTER (Hydrogen Pilot Storage for Large Ecosystem Replication) project, which was funded by the European Commission and concluded in December 2023.
The HyPSTER project successfully demonstrated the conversion of a 44-ton salt cavern into an underground hydrogen storage facility.
Building on the insights and expertise gained from HyPSTER, Storengy is now focused on two major goals:
1) Scaling up to convert larger caverns
2) Developing an extensive network of underground hydrogen storage across Europe to align with European energy ambitions.
In addition to FrHyGe, Storengy is leading two other innovative projects
- GeoH2 : Located in Manosque, France, this project aims to transform two unused brine-filled salt caverns, each with a capacity of 3,000 tons, into storage facilities for pure hydrogen.
- SaltHy : Based in Harsefeld, Germany, SaltHy is set to create a 6,000-ton cavern dedicated to storing pure hydrogen.
These initiatives are pivotal in advancing Europe’s hydrogen infrastructure and supporting the transition to a sustainable energy future.
The outcomes of the Hystories project, along with the expertise gained by its leader, Geostock, will be utilized to identify potential future investments in hydrogen storage. Hystories brought together 24 companies and research institutes, analyzed geological data from 23 European countries, and provided crucial technical and socio-economic insights for the deployment of underground hydrogen storage on a European scale. This robust foundation will enable FrHyGe to offer more precise insights into the deployment of underground hydrogen storage (e.g., refining a cost model, applying it to salt deposits/traps across Europe, to facilitate its use in European energy system modeling), and will allow the replication of results achieved in the HyPSTER pilot and the FrHyGe demonstrator to impact at a European scale.
FrHyGe Objectives
FrHyGe is driven by four key objectives
1
Develop and refine the processes for converting salt or natural gas caverns into effective hydrogen storage solutions.
2
Implement the cavern conversion protocol at a demonstrator scale to validate and optimize the process.
3
Advance market penetration and prepare for the replication of successful models at other sites, initially at GeoH2 and Harsefeld, with plans for broader European expansion in the next phase.
4
Conduct comprehensive environmental, safety, and regulatory assessments to ensure smooth deployment at the GeoH2 and Harsefeld sites, and subsequently across Europe.
Work Packages
FrHyGe partners’ synergy to advance underground hydrogen storage technology
FrHyGe is structured around several work packages (WPs), each designed to achieve specific objectives and deliver clear results over the next five years
WP1
Project management and coordination
WP2
Scientific developments and demonstrator design for hydrogen storage in salt caverns
WP3
Demonstration TRL7 of H2 storage and cyclability in gas cavern
