RAG owns Haidach, one of Europe’s largest gas storage sites
Europe to lose two-thirds of storage capacity in hydrogen conversion
Hydrogen’s lower energy content per cubic metre compared with natural gas will have major implications for the European energy system, RAG CEO tells Hydrogen Economist
Austrian gas storage operator RAG aims to store 10TWh of hydrogen from 2030–35, anticipating a shift away from natural gas by 2050. But converting underground storage facilities to store hydrogen instead of natural gas will result in a loss of two-thirds of these reservoirs’ energy content, according to CEO Markus Mitteregger. “One cubic metre of gas is roughly 10kWh, and the same cubic metre of hydrogen has just 3[kWh]. So you are losing two-thirds of the energy. That means, even if you increase the volume, the content of the energy is less,” he says. He anticipates that RAG will have to retain its current natural gas storage capacity in the 2030s to sustain continued demand from gas-fired
Also in this section
2 December 2025
Oil major cites deteriorating demand and a planning debacle as it abandons one of UK’s largest blue hydrogen projects
1 December 2025
Project at Emden in northwest Germany due online in 2027, but wider ramp-up of clean hydrogen sector in Germany will require overhaul of government policy, company warns
25 November 2025
The northwest African country’s vision of integrating green power, molecules and steel is alive and kicking, and serves as a reminder of hydrogen’s transformative potential
19 November 2025
The creation of ‘lead markets’ to generate hydrogen demand in the EU has potential, but implementation would pose complex challenges for producers and industrial offtakers
