(Oldenburg / Strausberg) – The Oldenburg energy supplier EWE AG has completed the soling of the hydrogen test cavern in Rüdersdorf near Berlin, which began in November last year. This created an underground cavity with a volume of around 500 cubic meters. Previous tests at a depth of 1.000 meters had confirmed the tightness of the supply line to the cavern, the company said.
As reported, EWE wants to use the “HyCAVmobileThe projects mentioned are researching how hydrogen storage works under practical conditions. The cavity, about the size of a single-family home, is located in a salt dome. EWE had already built two large cavern storage facilities in the rock salt beneath the storage area in Rüdersdorf.
Drilling tower for expanding the brine pipes
Construction has now begun on a drilling rig to extract the brine pipes needed to create the cavity and to install the technology for hydrogen test operations in the 1.000-meter-long borehole. EWE then removed the drilling rig and built the temporary operating facility for hydrogen storage above ground. The initial filling with hydrogen and the start of extensive test operations are planned for late summer.
The research is intended, among other things, to test the quality of the hydrogen after it has been withdrawn. A purity of almost 100 percent is “important for future applications, especially in the mobility sector,” the company said.
The findings from the research cavern can be transferred to caverns with volumes of 500.000 cubic meters for large-scale hydrogen storage. The investment volume for the HyCAVmobil project amounts to around ten million euros. Of this, six million euros come from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure.
With 37 salt caverns, EWE has 15 percent of all German cavern storage facilities that would be suitable for storing hydrogen in the future.
Photos above (detail) and middle
EWS is setting up a drilling tower in Rüdersdorf to remove the brine pipes from the 1.000-meter-long borehole and to install the technology for hydrogen test operations in the 1.000-meter-long borehole. © EWE / Andreas Prinz
