Vattenfall touts cost reduction potential of HYBRIT hydrogen storage

The addition of storage can reduce the variable cost of hydrogen production by between 25% to 40%, Swedish utility Vattenfall AB said on Monday.

These are the results of tests of HYBRIT’s pilot hydrogen storage facility on the electricity market that were conducted over the course of a month. The aim was to produce hydrogen at an optimised cost when there was a good supply of weather-dependent electricity.

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“Large-scale hydrogen storage makes it possible to adapt electricity consumption in a system of varying availability and prices and at the same time can supply the industry with hydrogen more stably and cost effectively,” said Mikael Nordlander, head of Industry Decarbonisation at Vattenfall.

The hydrogen was supplied in a steady flow to Swedish steel company SSAB AB.

The pilot storage, which is a rock cavern, is located next to HYBRIT's pilot fossil-free iron in Lulea, northern Sweden. The storage facility was brought into operation in 2022 and will be trialed until 2024.

The Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology (HYBRIT) initiative is a partnership between Vattenfall, SSAB and iron ore miner Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB). The three companies have together invested SEK 200 million (USD 18.2m/EUR 17.3m), while the Swedish Energy Agency has contributed slightly more than SEK 52 million.

(SEK 1 = USD 0.091/EUR 0.087)