Austria has played a central role in the European natural gas market as a "major transit power". This status has probably lost value due to the termination of natural gas transit through Ukraine - at least towards Italy. Whether this loss can be compensated for by the planned future transport of hydrogen from Italy to Germany, Slovakia etc. remains to be seen. Austria is also a major player in the natural gas storage market. How could the natural gas storage sector - and in future the hydrogen storage sector - develop?
As already mentioned in the article "Forgotten" hydrogen storage - status quo?, the large-volume, safe and efficient storage of natural gas and future "green" hydrogen in underground gas storage facilities is an irreplaceable cornerstone of a secure energy infrastructure. This also applies to the Austrian natural gas storage facilities that operate across borders in Germany, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, etc.

Surprisingly, hydrogen storage facilities have not been focussed on so far - not even in the ÖNIP. The task now is to push ahead with the hydrogen ramp-up and at the same time continue to guarantee the security of natural gas supply. Since the natural gas storage facilities are to be used - at least in part - for hydrogen storage, a coordinated ramp-up of hydrogen storage facilities on the one hand and a reduction in natural gas storage facilities on the other is necessary. This is also against the background that climate neutrality is not to be achieved in Germany "until" 2045 and in the other neighbouring countries not until 2050 - meaning that the natural gas storage facilities, which operate across borders, will have to ensure the security of natural gas supply for longer than in Austria.

The hydrogen ramp-up and the phase-out of natural gas - including the phase-out of natural gas storage operations - will also take place against the background of the expansion of hydropower, including pumped storage, as well as the rapidly increasing storage capacity of electricity by means of large-scale battery storage in addition to the expansion of the sectors that can be electrified.

Against this background, the field of application of hydrogen storage systems will probably focus primarily on the storage of hydrogen for seasonal bridging of hydrogen supply gaps. In order to avoid oversizing hydrogen storage facilities on the one hand and to be able to plan and implement a cost-efficient phase-out of natural gas storage activities on the other, the future cross-sectoral interaction of storage types should be analysed, solutions sought and optimised in order to prevent the already high energy costs, including (energy carrier) storage and energy (carrier) transport costs, from rising even further - a storage strategy is therefore required.