RWE Gas Storage West GmbH (RGSW) is starting to market free storage capacity in the H₂ storage facility currently under construction at the Gronau-Epe site in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. For this, RGSW launched a binding tender. The tender is aimed at companies that want to secure available storage capacity for H₂ from 1 January 2028.

Construction work on Germany's first commercial H₂ storage facility is already underway. RWE will fill the first cavern with H₂ from mid-2026. At the same time, H₂ will be used to press the brine out of a second cavern so that it can also be used for storage. Once completed, the storage facility with its two caverns will have an injection and withdrawal capacity of 50,000 m³ per hour and a working gas volume of around 38 MMm³. Around 70% of this has already been marketed. Commercial storage operations will start on July 1, 2027.

The current tender is for the 30% storage capacity that will not be available until 2028 for technical reasons. In a market survey in spring 2025, RGSW asked potential customers about their requirements. The findings have been incorporated into the tender.

Transport and storage infrastructure will play a key role in the ramp-up of the H₂ economy: storage facilities help to buffer fluctuations in H₂ production from wind and solar energy. This will enable H₂ produced in the future to be made available to industrial customers as needed.