The extension allows continued exploration of fossil-free hydrogen storage for supporting the Swedish energy system through ongoing tests.

Hybrit is the joint-venture (JV) of a Swedish trio comprising of steel manufacturer, SSAB, and state-owned mining and energy companies, LKAB and Vattenfall.

In 2022, it commissioned the pilot storage facility, situated 30 metres below ground in Svartöberget, Luleå, which allows hydrogen to replace coal and coke in the production of iron and steel to it fossil-free.

Marie Anheden, Project Manager at Vattenfall, said the new permit could progress the storage cavern’s capacity to facilitate cheaper hydrogen production.

“The project’s tests have shown that hydrogen storage functions effectively within the HYBRIT value chain, supporting large-scale hydrogen users. A hydrogen storage shows likely savings of around 25-40% of the variable operating cost for hydrogen production”, she said.

While large-scale underground hydrogen storage is widely viewed as essential for supporting hydrogen-to-power, it faces barriers in coming to support national networks.

Such projects are capital-intensive and face regulatory gaps, creating policy uncertainty precisely at the moment when storage facilities must be built ahead of demand to enable widespread hydrogen use.