This innovative pilot project will enable us to test and control hydrogen storage on a large scale, by simulating injections and withdrawals in a salt cavern. This paves the way for industrialisation of the process.
The Hypster project, supported by the European Union and the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, involves producing and then storing hydrogen underground on a large scale. It therefore comprises two parts: gas storage in a salt cavern and production using an electrolyser to supply hydrogen from renewable energies. This innovation was developed by teams from Storengy, an ENGIE subsidiary, at the Etrez natural gas storage site. It is now entering the testing phase before being rolled out on a large scale in 2024.
With an overall budget of 15.5M Euros, including 5M Euros of EU support, this unique demonstrator paves the way for the creation of an industrial-scale renewable hydrogen storage sector, technically and economically replicable to other sites in Europe.
Launched in January 2021, HyPSTER is moving to the implementation stage, to produce and store hydrogen at the Etrez site (near Lyon – France). On the production side, a 1 MW electrolyser will generate 400 kg of hydrogen per day. On the storage side, test operations will begin in the EZ53 cavern.
This will be followed by around a hundred cycles of hydrogen pressure variation over 3 months, with no inflow or outflow of hydrogen. These tests will confirm the ability to store hydrogen with safety standards similar to those in force for natural gas for more than 70 years.
At the end of these test cycles, the hydrogen will be extracted and analysed to ensure the quality of the gas in the cavern.
After this experimental stage, the scale will change in 2024: hydrogen production and storage will gradually amplify, until the salt cavern's full capacity is used up in 2026, i.e. almost 50 tonnes (equivalent to the daily consumption of 2,000 buses). This will make it possible to supply industrial players and service stations in the region with hydrogen.
In the medium term, a hydrogen pipeline should link Etrez to the production and consumption sites, to support the growth of the industry.
Catherine Mac Greggor, Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE: "This pilot project will enable us to test and master hydrogen storage on a large scale, initially by simulating injections and withdrawals in a saline cavity. It's highly innovative, because it will pave the way for the industrialisation of this new process."
Additional studies have already been launched this summer to prepare the follow-up to this project. They aim to develop massive hydrogen storage capacities at the Etrez site. Four caverns – at a depth of 1,300 metres – could be used, each capable of storing 6,700 tonnes of hydrogen.
