Webinar on "Advancing Underground Hydrogen Storage in the North German Basin: Geological Assessment and Challenges at the Ketzin-Roskow Site"
Abstract:
Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in geological formations can play a key role in enabling a resilient, large-scale hydrogen economy and supporting future energy systems. Porous formations, particularly saline aquifers, represent a promising option for large-scale hydrogen storage. However, their development faces several technical, geological, and operational challenges and requires a comprehensive understanding of the geological setting, reservoir and caprock properties, and hydrogen behavior under subsurface conditions.
The North German Basin provides a promising scenario for exploring UHS opportunities. In particular, the Ketzin–Roskow anticline represents a unique case study, building on decades of knowledge and experience from natural gas and CO2 storage. Today, the site is being further investigated for the development of an H2 storage demonstrator in a saline aquifer.
The webinar will present results from the Ketzin–Roskow case, starting with the geological assessment of the area and progressing to ongoing petrological, petrophysical, and geochemical investigations. These studies aim to further characterize potential reservoir and caprock in the study area and improve our understanding of H2–rock–fluid interactions during storage operations. Together, the results provide new insights into the potential for UHS in the North German Basin, while highlighting the key challenges and uncertainties that need to be addressed as hydrogen storage in porous formations moves toward field-scale implementation.
Biography:
Dr. María Belén Febbo is a postdoctoral researcher at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences. Her research focuses on reservoir and caprock characterization and H2–rock–fluid interactions to better understand subsurface processes associated with underground hydrogen storage (UHS). She also works on geological modelling and site assessment to evaluate the suitability of potential sites for development of UHS projects in porous formations.
She holds a PhD in Geology from Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina, and completed a research internship at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Her broader expertise includes basin analysis, sedimentology, geological and thermal modelling, petroleum systems characterization, and reservoir and caprock assessment, with applications in oil and gas exploration and CO2 and H2 storage. Her career also spans industry experience in the mining and oil and gas sectors, including work at Schlumberger on oil and gas projects in Argentina.
Linked In: María Belén Febbo