Can Geogenic Hydrogen Become an Industrial Resource in Central Europe? Evidence from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

Geogenic (“white”) hydrogen is discussed as a complement to electrolytic hydrogen. Exploration leads in France, the United States, and Australia; in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (D-A-CH), it remains largely academic. This review synthesizes international evidence on formation, exploration, conditioning, and use, and evaluates each country’s potential. Rift-inversion orogens such as the Alps are modelled as favorable for serpentinization-driven generation, but favorability for generation is not favorability for retention: the rapidly exhuming, meteorically flushed Alpine nappes retain poorly, whereas Germany’s older, better-sealed provinces lack a strong source. On present evidence, no D-A-CH province satisfies both, and no hydrogen-targeted borehole data have been published in the region. A third, economic condition is quantifiable: Bourakébougou, the only producing site, delivered about 45 t H2 per year in a one-day flow test, against a parameter-sensitive viability benchmark of 0.9–9 kt and 130 kt for one world-scale ammonia plant. Should an accumulation be proven, the constraint is quantity, not quality: remuneration ranges from 1 EUR/kg as grid gas to 13 EUR/kg at the pump, so modest volumes enter at the low-value end. Since April 2026, natural hydrogen is a ‘bergfreier Bodenschatz’ under Germany’s Federal Mining Act, the region’s only statutory basis; Switzerland leads in permitting.