UMAS

The UMAS project investigates the technical, economic, and socioeconomic feasibility, as well as the environmental potential, of underground methanation in aquifer storage facilities. Through laboratory tests and numerical modeling, the project aims to assess and predict the capacity for microbiological conversion and to verify the geological integrity of the storage formation. The process engineering studies focus on the compatibility of existing plant components with the new storage media H2 and CO2. The result will be the development of a plant concept for the new facilities to be added to ensure technically safe underground methanation. The project’s economic viability, as well as its regional and macroeconomic effects, will be examined in terms of their interaction with the energy system, with a focus on current and required market conditions for renewable gas and flexibility. A regional energy system model depicts relevant power generators, consumers, and the gas storage facility in its potential new function. The project’s outcome is the development of a technically and economically feasible overall concept for extensive underground microbiological CH4 production, with the aim of providing the urgently needed flexibility to address the volatility in power generation.