Natural hydrogen discoveries near French-German border fuel hopes for H2 abundance

A global rush to find natural hydrogen (H2) is intensifying the focus on what could turn out to be a much cheaper source for the gas, seen to play a key role in the energy transition. In 2023, a group led by geoscientist Jacques Pironon from the University of Lorraine, commissioned by energy company Française de l'Energie, discovered a hydrogen reservoir near the German-French border, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. Pironon said the amount of hydrogen in the reservoir could be be up to 250 million tonnes - twice the annual amount produced by the entire world. Française de l'Energie now wants to drill to even greater depths to determine the precise dimensions of the deposit and, if successful, commence production no later than 2028.

Initially considered a rare and unlikely energy source, hydrogen was known to exist naturally in certain geological formations – in mid-ocean ridges or mountains where mantle rock pushes towards the earth's surface through tectonic processes – but was largely dismissed as a curiosity. Interest in natural hydrogen picked up after a discovery of a large reservoir in the West African country of Mali in 2011. According to Frank Zwaan from the Potsdam research institute for geology (GFZ), there are vast areas around the globe that potentially could hold natural hydrogen reserves, but it remained uncertain how much of it can actually be used. Zwaan has participated in other explorations with French colleagues in the Pyrenees.

The German government has been on a global shopping spree, eager to import green hydrogen (produced with renewable energy) from all over the world in order to transform the country’s heavy industry and other hard-to-decarbonise sectors. The EU wants to import 10 million tonnes alone by 2030 and produce the same amount itself. The production of green hydrogen is energy intensive, however, requiring large amounts of electricity from wind turbines and solar systems.