RAG wants to store solar and wind energy in the form of hydrogen – EVN engages more aggressively | 08/06/21

EVN storage subsidiary RAG Austria AG and partners want to store solar and wind energy in the form of hydrogen at underground gas storage facilities.

In cooperation with Austrian project partners, RAG will conduct field testing in Upper Austria over the next few years. Markus Meijer, President of RAG Austria, commented on the project announcement: “Hydrogen is the missing piece of the puzzle for a completely CO2-neutral energy system.”

“The critical factor, however, is that they can be stored and transported in large quantities in existing and almost invisible infrastructure,” Meriger said. This means that enough “green energy” is available even when there is little sun or wind. “Innovative storage of renewable energies will play an important role on the path to climate neutrality by 2040,” Climate Protection Minister Leonor Geusler (The Greens) said in a broadcast on Tuesday. “We support red, white and red innovations that contribute to this goal.”

As part of the “Underground Sun Storage 2030” project, technical and scientific investigations will be carried out under real conditions at a former natural gas storage facility in the Upper Austrian municipality of Gampern (Vöcklabruck region) under the supervision of RAG and project partners. The goal is to develop safe, seasonal, high-volume storage of renewable energy in the form of hydrogen in underground gas reservoirs.

Project partners include Axiom Applied Process Technology, Energie AG Oberösterreich, the Energy Institute at Johannes Kepler University Linz, EVN AG, HyCentA Research GmbH, K1-MET GmbH, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Verbund, WIVA P&G and voestalpine steel. The project is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund’s “Major District Energy” initiative, with funding from the Ministry of Climate Protection.

According to RAG, previous research projects “Underground Sun Storage” and “Underground Sun Transformation” have shown that hydrogen content of up to 20 percent can be stored “well tolerated” in natural gas tanks. Laboratory tests indicate the possibility of hydrogen content of up to 100 percent.

EVN’s shares were listed on Tuesday in Vienna, finally, up 1.75 percent at €20.40.

(Abstract) cri / ivn

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