Total, Engie strategy French hydrogen project powered by more than 100MW of solar

• Total and also Engie have authorized an agreement to develop as well as run what they state will certainly be France's biggest green hydrogen center.

Located at a Total biorefinery in the southerly region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur as well as powered by greater than 100MW of solar projects, the 40MW electrolyser is expected to create 5 tonnes of eco-friendly hydrogen each day.

The project, called Masshylia, has already made an application for subsidies from both French as well as European authorities, as the partners aim to begin building of the facility in 2022, complying with the completion of an innovative design research study, with a view to starting production in 2024.

The companies claimed the installation will certainly include an "ingenious administration service" for the manufacturing and also storage space of hydrogen to manage the intermittent production of solar and the biorefinery's demand for constant hydrogen supply. This consists of optimizing the integration of numerous PV plants providing the electrolyser to minimise energy losses as well as limit blockage. It will certainly likewise feature large-scale hydrogen storage to stabilize intermittent electrical energy manufacturing as well as continuous hydrogen consumption.

Past the initial stage, new renewable projects might be created by the partners for the electrolyser, which has the ability to generate up to 15 tonnes of environment-friendly hydrogen each day.

Philippe Sauquet, president gas, renewables as well as power at Total, said the center is a globally reproducible project. "Innovation and also sustainability go to the heart of this joint project. As shown by our commitment to the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, our team believe in the future of renewable hydrogen, and also we are working with our partner Engie to make it happen."

For Engie, the information comes days after strategies were disclosed for the 1GW Horizeo solar project, which will be developed in France in partnership with Neoen as well as include a 10MW electrolyser for environment-friendly hydrogen generation and 40MW of energy storage space.

As it aims to reach an electrolysis ability of 6.5 GW by 2030, France consisted of a dedication to spend EUR7 billion in green hydrogen production by 2030 in its coronavirus recovery plan. The 3 concerns of the country's hydrogen technique consist of decarbonisation of market, support for study as well as development, and developing hydrogen-powered heavy transport.

To ensure the effective application of the approach, France's government earlier this week announced the development of a National Hydrogen Council, that includes executives from both Total as well as Engie.

Recent evaluation from IHS Markit disclosed that green hydrogen manufacturing prices are down 40% given that 2015 and are expected to fall by a more 40% by 2025. The research firm expects yearly international investments in renewable hydrogen to go beyond US$ 1 billion by 2023.