Innovative and Development Projects

Storage facilities are playing a critical role in the gas chain. Thanks to the vision of cooperation in renewable resources, they clearly have something to offer for the future of energy, too.

NAFTA’s many years of technical experience in underground natural gas storage will also be capitalized in the planned transition to low-carbon energy, particularly in the incorporation of innovative energy storage methods. It has been actively engaged in innovative and development projects for some time. There is a strong view among us of the possibilities for cooperation between gas and renewable energy in the future. Our innovation department is concentrating on the development of potential joint ventures both in this area and in our own projects.

The advantage of storing renewables in the form of H₂ in existing natural gas storage facilities is both their enormous capacity and seasonality. No other technology today can warehouse so much energy over the long term - months or even years - like molecular storage. There is space not just for natural gas storage facilities, but also for the entire gas industry as an element in the low-carbon transformation of energy and the energy economy.

NAFTA has become a player in a major, innovative green energy project.

It has joined a call from The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) to explore the impact of hydrogen on porous layers underground.

We have successfully become a partner in a broad consortium covering almost every member state of the European Union. Together, they created HyUsPRe, which has successfully applied for financing from FCH JU funds. The European project is led by Dutch company TNO along with research institutions, universities, industrial partners in Europe and other stakeholders. Besides laboratory research, it also includes specific models for a hydrogen network in Europe connected to underground storage facilities. More details about it will be forthcoming after it begins.

The project seeks to assess the feasibility of using NAFTA Speicher storage facilities for methanation - injecting a mixture of CO₂ and H₂ and producing synthetic methane. It is expected to last three years.

Industrial CO₂ and green hydrogen produced from renewable resources need to be stored in porous underground structures. While this would contribute toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it involves creating a facility for disposal of excess renewable energy and hydrogen.

Converting CO₂ and H₂ to CH₄ allows existing gas infrastructure to be still used in the future without restrictions.

Therefore, the project seeks to determine the conditions under which the process could be active, the impact of changing the concentration of H₂ and CO₂ on the entire process and any other potential reactions that could be run. It also includes identifying process optimization options. BIO - UGS is being run in cooperation with DBI (Gas und Umwelttechnik), while the other project partners are Friedrich Schiller University, MicroPro GmbH, Isotect GmbH and other industrial partners.

A concept study is currently being prepared that looks at the installation of Power-to-Gas (PtG) technology and a photovoltaic power plant at one of our NAFTA Speicher storage facilities. The study seeks to design the optimal size for performance, taking into account the electrical capacity available in existing connections and space for constructing a photovoltaic power plant. After considering the business options for both concepts, NAFTA plans to identify the most appropriate scenario for creating a business concept that will include the option of switching the supply of electricity to the grid, utilizing it, and also the demand for PtG technology. We also wish to identify suitable financing opportunities for such a project and also to define other options for using H₂ at the site, whether for mobility, industry or elsewhere. 

More about NAFTA’s innovative projects here.