Teréga: accelerating the roll-out of decarbonised hydrogen

The potential of this light, reactive gas has provoked renewed interest in the context of energy transition and the fight against global warming. In fact, hydrogen combines with many chemical elements and its usage and storage properties offer a range of possibilities in the fight against greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Hydrogen can also be converted into:

• heat;

• electricity;

• motive power;

• and it can also serve as an energy carrier, particularly in the methanation process, where CO2 can be recovered and converted into synthetic methane through the addition of hydrogen.

Since it can also be transported and stored in bulk in either liquid or gaseous form, different techniques are being studied to produce or recover decarbonised hydrogen.

• Electrolysis of water consists in breaking down water, which contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H₂O), using an electric current to collect the hydrogen molecule. This process is used in Power-to-Gas, so that the excess electricity produced by solar and wind farms can be turned into a combustible gas: hydrogen.

• Pyro-gasification of waste or biomass can be used to produce a mixture of CO and H₂.

• Natural gas reforming is designed to cause methane to react with water, to obtain a mixture comprising hydrogen and CO₂. The CO₂ can be captured and stored to produce decarbonised hydrogen. Natural gas can be replaced with biomethane.

In addition, the expansion of the hydrogen sector will help meet a two-fold challenge: to speed up energy transition and strengthen the fabric of French industry. The reason is that the fine-tuning of hydrogen-based solutions for sectors which are hard to decarbonise will be a factor for competitiveness and economic dynamism, regionally and nationally.

Long-term hydrogen storage capacities represent an alternative in addition to batteries which supply electricity instantaneously but in small quantities. Furthermore, hydrogen can be produced, transported and stored in bulk, just like natural gas. It can also be put to the same uses, with the advantage that it can be produced in a renewable or low-carbon way and consumed without emitting CO₂.

That is why gas infrastructure operators have a significant role to play in expanding the hydrogen sector. Through the development of innovative solutions: 

• we are decarbonising our own use by injecting a renewable gas into our grid:

• we are enabling users to benefit from a cleaner energy mix.

Our desire, in association with the other gas infrastructure operators, is to make a contribution to the plan to roll out hydrogen across France, encouraged in 2018 by the ministry of ecological and inclusive transition.

Our conviction and our involvement in the hydrogen sector are illustrated by these main projects:

• Hydrogen Backbone: a European hydrogen backbone structure

Following publication by the European Commission of its Hydrogen strategy we, along with ten European gas infrastructure managers operating in nine member states, presented a forward plan. Our objective is to assert the positive contribution hydrogen can make to achieving carbon-neutral status, but also the importance of using existing gas pipelines to reduce financial investment. So we presented the plan to create a “hydrogen backbone” at the European level.

That plan provides for the creation of a network covering 6,800 km between 2025 and 2030, linking different hydrogen valleys across Europe. Toward 2040, that network could stretch to 23,000 km and would be made up of 75% existing natural gas pipelines, converted to carry hydrogen, and only 25% new pipelines.

• HyGéo

We have joined forces with Hydrogène de France (HDF) and the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (French Geological and Mining Research Bureau, BRGM) to develop solutions for the bulk storage of hydrogen in salt caverns, for multiple applications. As part of that, a pilot project has been launched: HyGéo.

This project follows on from the incentives in the Multiannual Energy Plan (MEP) to examine the benefit of re-using salt caverns for storing hydrogen.  The bulk storage of energy helps integrate intermittent renewable energies into the energy mix. In addition, hydrogen storage is an opportunity for dedicated grids as part of large-scale distribution logistics. HyGéo has been certificated by Pôle Avenia, the only French competitive cluster for the underground energy sector.

In addition to this research work into defining a structure for the sector, we have also been involved alongside GRTgaz in building the first French industrial Power-to-Gas demonstrator. Jupiter 100 has been set up at Fos-sur-Mer and combines two techniques:

• hydrogen production by electrolysis of water, taking advantage of the surplus electricity generated from renewable sources (solar, wind etc.).

• the production of synthetic methane by methanation, combining hydrogen with CO₂.

This enables Jupiter 100 to demonstrate how different energy sources complement one another, and the value of gas infrastructures in terms of energy efficiency. Indeed, the surplus electricity produced cannot be stored in its original form. By transforming it into hydrogen, you can then inject it into the gas grid, or store it for use at a later date, thus avoiding energy loss.

Electrolyser on the Jupiter 1000 project.

The second part of the process, methanation, allows the recovery of CO₂, helping combat greenhouse gas emissions. If CO₂ could be reclaimed from a methanisation unit producing biomethane nearby, this could then become part of a local multi-energy system. At Teréga, we are convinced that multi-energy is the route to energy transition. That is why we launched our IMPULSE 2025 project, a demonstrator enabling us to imagine and construct a smart multi-energy system which is due to go live by 2025.