PATRIZIA, a leading partner for global real assets, has announced the signing of option lease agreements for the first industrial-scale hydrogen storage between PATRIZIA/STORAG ETZEL, a wholly managed operating company of PATRIZIA, and Dutch state-owned energy infrastructure company Gasunie. According to the agreement, STORAG ETZEL which has been managing large-scale oil and gas storage facilities in underground caverns in Lower Saxony for over 50 years, will develop hydrogen storage caverns. The hydrogen storage pilot project H2CAST Etzel conducted by STORAG ETZEL, Gasunie and other partners since 2022/2023 should prove the feasibility of hydrogen storage in Etzel’s underground caverns.

According to the European Union, the potential for hydrogen for our future carbon-neutral energy consumption is significant. Renewable energies could supply a substantial part of the European energy mix in 2050, of which hydrogen could account for up to 20%, notably 20-50% of energy demand in transport and 5-20% in industry. Industrial-scale hydrogen storage is a key prerequisite to compensate for the fluctuations in green energy generation via solar and wind and provide a stable energy supply for our power grids.

Germany’s future power plant strategy to serve natural gas power plants that will be H2-ready and converted to hydrogen in the future will generate further hydrogen storage demand, which the cavern field in the Etzel salt dome can supply. The connection of the Etzel storage facility is also part of the planned hydrogen pipeline grid called “Kernnetz” (core hydrogen grid) to mee the future hydrogen demand across Germany.

“The “H2Cast Etzel” pilot project as this new agreement with Gasunie are key to prove that our caverns field is “H2-ready” and can play an important role in securing constant energy supply for Germany and across Europe,” said Heiko Süß, Head of PATRIZIA Fund Management Frankfurt. “Our common goal is to demonstrate that we can manage a safe transition from fossil to renewable energy in Germany with the cavern field in Etzel being an important part of a future hydrogen energy economy to meet the increasing energy needs of a carbon-free society and economy.”

You can now read the full press release at the link below