Full qualification in France of large-scale HYdrogen underground storage and replication from Germany to all European countries

If the solution for integration of intermittent renewable sources to decarbonate the industry and mobility is hydrogen, for example with European Hydrogen Backbone initiative, large-scale storage of H2 technical feasibility and economic viability is still hampering wide EU market uptake.FrHyGe main goal is to demonstrate and qualify in industrial environment in France the injection and withdrawal of H2 in a current natural gas commercial storage site.

But FrHyGe will also deliver the conversion process and up-scale strategies to foster EU replication of H2 storage in caverns, starting with an ongoing project in Germany to accelerate know-how transfer and economic viability.FrHyGe objectives are: •To develop and implement two conversion processes from natural gas or brine cavern to hydrogen storage•To demonstrate H2 storage and cyclability in a 3000 tons potential cavern with 100 cycles from 1h to 1 week•To study the local hydrogen value chain and the techno-economic impacts on local actors and to upscale and deploy H2 storage along European Hydrogen Backbone •To assess the risks and environmental impacts of H2 cyclic storage in salt caverns and provide guidelines for safety, regulation and normative adaptations in EuropeFrHyGe will open a path towards a potential of commercial 38 ktons of H2 storage in several EU countries as soon as 2030, and up to 1.5 Mtons in 2050 through conversion and creation of caverns, leading to a CAPEX below 10 €/Kg of H2 stored.To succeed, FrHyGe gathers EU leading H2 industries and research centres, led by worldwide underground storage actor Storengy, willing to make happen large-scale and multi-site H2 storage in caverns.