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* The INES storage group presents Aurora Energy’s research
* Hydrogen networks planned in Germany could be too expensive and oversized
* Demand assumptions and import requirements may be too high.
*Germany has wide geographical scope for storage
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FRANKFURT, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Germany’s future demand for hydrogen could fall far short of the baseline the country assumes in its plans to expand its gas network to transport the fuel, a study commissioned by a group of storage operators showed on Thursday .
The study, which calls for storing more hydrogen domestically, comes as Europe’s largest economy will decide how to invest billions of euros in developing green hydrogen for decarbonization over the coming decades.
A cornerstone of Berlin’s hydrogen strategy is a 9,700km hydrogen core network worth 20 billion euros, outlined in pipeline operator Caucus FNB Gas’s plans last November, which predicted hydrogen consumption of 279 terawatt hours (TWh) per year by 2032.
But a study presented on Thursday by the storage group INES and prepared by the energy consulting company Aurora predicts a hydrogen requirement of between 73 and 123 TWh by 2030.
Border exchange points with less than 10 gigawatt hours per hour (GWh/h) of imports could be enough to meet this demand, according to the Aurora study, compared to the 59 GWh/h envisaged in the FNB plan.
“Aurora’s brief analysis highlights the extent of the remaining uncertainties in network planning and the risk of developing excess capacity that would never be used,” said Sebastian Heinermann, director of INES.
The FNB plan is based on converting 60% of the existing gas pipelines.
Since the hydrogen market is still in its infancy, Aurora recommended exploring the promising geological potential for domestic hydrogen storage, which would result in investment savings.
The INES members include the company Astora within the SEFE Group, VNG Gasspeicher, Uniper and RWE.
($1 = 0.9130 euros) (Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Rachel More and Jan Harvey)
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