Projekt Kategorie Import
Hydrogen cavern storage facility Epe H2
RWE Gas Storage West
The Epe H2 hydrogen cavern storage facility is being built at the Kottiger Hook site in Gronau-Epe in the district of Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia. The storage project comprises two salt caverns at a depth of around 1,000 meters with a usable working gas volume of 38 million cubic meters of hydrogen. The storage and withdrawal capacity is 50,000 cubic meters per hour in each case.
The storage facility will be connected to the GET H2 network, which comprises the hydrogen pipeline between Lingen and the Ruhr area, via the HEp (Heek-Epe) hydrogen pipeline. The facility will serve to buffer fluctuating hydrogen production from renewable energies and enable demand-oriented supply to industrial customers in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.
The project is being implemented by RWE Gas Storage West GmbH as the sole operator. The project is funded as part of the IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) program Hy2Infra. Funding is provided by the Federal Ministry of Economics, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the federal government.
Commercial operation is scheduled to begin on July 1, 2027. With a storage capacity of 38 million cubic meters and a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters per hour for both injection and withdrawal, the facility in Gronau-Epe will be Germany's first commercial hydrogen cavern storage facility.
H2 HoWi
Westenergie
The H2 Howi project in Holzwickede, North Rhine-Westphalia, is testing the conversion of existing natural gas pipelines to transport 100 percent hydrogen. The goal is to demonstrate the technical feasibility and legal framework for such a conversion for the first time in Germany, thereby enabling a green application for the existing natural gas network. The project focuses on demonstrating in practice that the existing gas infrastructure in Holzwickede is suitable for transporting pure hydrogen and can thus contribute to the decarbonization of the energy supply.
The project is being carried out by Westenergie and is continuously monitored by scientists. The scientific monitoring documents all technical and regulatory findings that are relevant for future hydrogen projects in the gas network. The H2 Howi project is playing a pioneering role in the development of the hydrogen economy in Germany.
The H2 Howi project was commissioned in October 2022. The project is scheduled to run until December 2026 in order to gain comprehensive long-term experience with the operation of hydrogen in converted natural gas pipelines. The data and findings obtained will serve as the basis for the large-scale transformation of the gas infrastructure in North Rhine-Westphalia and nationwide.
Energy Park Bad Lauchstädt
Uniper
The Bad Lauchstädt Energy Park is a large-scale real-world laboratory for the intelligent production of green hydrogen and its storage, transport, marketing and use. As a real-world laboratory for the energy transition, it is the first to test the entire value chain of green hydrogen on an industrial scale. It thus contributes to the holistic research and market development of future green hydrogen technologies.
The project is being implemented by Uniper together with the following partners: Terrawatt Planungsgesellschaft, VNG Handel & Vertrieb, VNG Gasspeicher, ONTRAS Gastransport and DBI – Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg.
