Hydrogen storage as the key to political planning

23.01.2025

Source: E & M powernews

The Storage Energy Initiative has presented the results of the "MAHS" market survey, which shows the demand for H2 storage and is intended to serve as a basis for policy decisions.

Sebastian Heinermann expressed his conviction at the digital press conference on January 22: "The MAHS results provide a reliable basis for policymakers to drive forward the development of hydrogen storage in Germany in a targeted manner." Particularly with a view to the period up to 2035, the data obtained would provide the necessary security to develop a viable financing concept, said Managing Director of the Initiative Energien Speichern e.V. (Ines) at the presentation of the results of the "MAHS" (Market Assessment for Hydrogen Storage) market survey.

The initiative's survey ran from April 2 to May 31 last year (see info box). The aim of the market survey was to provide relevant data for politics and industry. In addition to specifying storage requirements, the participating companies were also able to submit information on hydrogen volumes and planned uses. Based on the data collected, Ines not only calculated the storage requirements of the participating companies, but also prepared an overall analysis of the hydrogen system for individual support years up to 2045.

In his presentation, Heinermann emphasized that the results of the market survey for the period up to 2035 provide comparable estimates to other scenarios - such as the surveys of the transmission system operators or the core network scenario. In the long term, however, hydrogen storage requirements depend heavily on the feed-in of renewable energies.

Conclusions from the analysis

Ines concludes from the results that the previous planning up to 2035 is robust and can serve as a reliable basis for political and regulatory decisions. The consumption volumes in industry and, from 2035, increasingly in hydrogen-powered power plants would be supplied by hydrogen produced electrolytically in Germany and by imports. The increasing use of hydrogen in power plants with high power requirements will increasingly require hydrogen storage facilities with higher working gas volumes.

Due to rising power plant requirements, the initiative considers more and more withdrawal capacity to be necessary than injection capacity. Here, the estimates of the Mahs results differ significantly in some cases compared to the German government's core grid scenario: For example, the assumed withdrawal capacity of 8 GW in the core grid scenario for 2032 is significantly lower than the results of other analyses - on the one hand the market survey of the gas transmission system operators (20 GW) and on the other hand the Mahs market survey (15 to 24 GW).

In order to continuously assess demand, Ines plans to repeat its Mahs survey every two years in future. The results are to be made available to both the relevant authorities and the public. Ines emphasizes that the market survey also helps to meet the requirements of the EU Gas and Hydrogen Package Regulation.

The "MAHS" survey

The "Market Assessment for Hydrogen Storage" was launched on April 2, 2024 and ran until May 31, 2024. The survey was aimed at companies from Germany and abroad that intend to enter the hydrogen storage market in Germany - such as importers, trading companies, hydrogen network operators, industrial companies and municipal utilities.

According to Ines, it was not absolutely necessary for companies to be able to quantitatively estimate their own hydrogen storage requirements in order to take part in the market survey. In addition to direct information, the survey also provides indirect ways for companies to communicate hydrogen storage requirements by allowing information on hydrogen volumes and intended use.

The Ines survey is based on a legal requirement under Article 8 of the EU Regulation on internal markets in renewable gases and natural gas and hydrogen from the EU gas package. According to this regulation, storage operators must carry out a market assessment for investments in storage facilities for renewable and low-carbon gases - including hydrogen - at least every two years and inform the regulatory authorities of the results.

Ines has prepared the results of its first market survey "Hydrogen storage requirements in Germany" in the form of a 17-page presentation.

Author: Davina Spohn