Transportation and Storage

Feeding green hydrogen into the natural gas network can solve the energy distribution problem. The large generation potential of renewable energies for wind power plants for on-shore and off-shore lies especially in the north of Germany. The energy cannot be adequately transported to major consumers in southern Germany only via electricity grids. Hydrogen could be generated on site and transported as a gaseous energy source through the natural gas network.

The grid has significantly larger capacities for energy transport or storage than the electricity grid. Germany has a well-developed natural gas network with a length of over 500,000 km and 47 storage facilities. The following projects research various innovation potentials in these areas such as qualification of individual network sections, development of pure hydrogen networks at distribution network level, rededication of large storage facilities such as salt caverns and further development of hydrogen storage tanks for higher pressure levels: