France – Pays de la Loire: the green hydrogen ecosystem is being built.
It is a new generation service station that has just been inaugurated in La Roche-sur-Yon because it will deliver green electricity, bioNGV and green hydrogen to an ecosystem of highly invested consumers. A model called to duplicate itself.
A multi-energy service station was inaugurated in La-Roche-sur-Yon, in the Vendée, in the presence of the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Lemaire, and the Minister Delegate for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari. Located on a former Michelin production site undergoing conversion, it has the particularity of distributing green hydrogen, bioNGV and green electricity.
A first in France, developed under the leadership of the Syndicat d’énergie et d’équipement de la Vendée (Sydev) and its semi-public company created in 2012, Vendée Énergie.
Worms of green hydrogen produced at sea
If the start-up Lhyfe sees in this first service station the realization of its territorial projects, it is already building other bricks of the system. On the production side, it has just partnered with Doris, an integrated engineering and project management company at the forefront of offshore developments.
The two companies want to accelerate their work around offshore hydrogen production in order to launch the first floating wind turbine to integrate a hydrogen production system. Green electricity comes from photovoltaic plants on the ground (on former landfills), on roofs and on parking shades belonging to the SEM.
The bioNGV comes out of the methanizers installed in the farms of the department. As for hydrogen, it is very green, because produced 60 km away by the electrolyzer of the company Lhyfe,connected to a wind farm (property of the SEM) since last September.
Alain Lebœuf, president of Vendée Énergie and president of the departmental council.
It is the symbol of the twenty-first century service stations and an ambitious Vendée strategy in favour of the emergence of carbon-free local energy sectors.
“Consuming renewable energies is crucial; in short circuit, it is essential! ”
The fleet of vehicles is growing
Designed and manufactured by HRS, the station is capable of refuelling up to 200 kg/day. Delivered on site, by a truck running on hydrogen in a few months, green hydrogen is distributed at speeds adapted to different vehicles: heavy vehicles (700 bar), for the transport of goods, people or household dumpsters, but also light vehicles (350 bar) for intensive use.
But who will be the users? There are many of them, which guarantees the success of the operation.
La Roche-sur-Yon Agglomération has just put into circulation a hydrogen bus for its public transport service, Impulsyon, operated by RATP Dev. The Department of the Vendée has equipped itself with a hydrogen Toyota Mira for the travel of its president and is also equipped with a hydrogen truck. The Toyota dealership in La Roche-sur-Yon is preparing to deliver ten Mirai cars to individuals.
Matthieu Guesné, president and founder of Lhyfe.
The question we are regularly asked is that of the egg or the chicken.
The example of the implementation of the hydrogen sector in the Pays de la Loire region shows that the solution is to build a first ecosystem to match supply and demand and to deploy all the elements at the same time: vehicles, production sites, distribution sites. »
In total, about fifty heavy vehicles, buses, dumpsters, will be able to run on renewable hydrogen in the departments of Loire-Atlantique, Sarthe, Vendée first, then in other French departments, in particular via the VHyGO project,which provides for the development of territorial ecosystems on a larger scale in Pays de La Loire, Brittany and Normandy.
Clément Le Roy, an expert at Wavestone.
This inauguration symbolizes the importance of this “hub” format, which makes it possible to support changes in consumption.
“In particular, this multi-energy offer meets the increasingly diversified needs of automotive transport. Indeed, carriers are greening their fleets, in particular through NGV, while private motorists are increasingly turning to electric vehicles. It is a safe bet that this multi-energy station is the first example of a movement that will tend to strengthen,”
Territory and start-up: the winning duo
For this project to see the light of day, an investment of 3.2 million euros was necessary (including 1.5 million in aid from the State, the Pays de la Loire Region and Ademe). And Sydev should not stop there.
Laurent Favreau, president of Sydev.
If the La Roche-sur-Yon resort is the embodiment of a new energy paradigm of mobility in the Vendée, it nevertheless only marks the beginning of a much more ambitious project throughout the department, because we are convinced that the territorial network is the key.
“Thus, in 2022 alone, we aim to bring two more stations out of the ground; one in Les Sables-d’Olonne, the other in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.”
This project thus perfectly reflects the territorial approach acclaimed by France in its Hydrogen Strategy. The principle is to work on both production projects and hydrogen consumption projects within the territories. And, according to wavestone’s first “Start-up Radar” published at the end of November, the Regions are playing the game by supporting, in a significant way, start-ups. Thanks for staying up to date with Hydrogen Central.
“Some territories are already engaged in large-scale projects, others are just launching their approach. One thing is certain, the territories are an essential lever for the development of hydrogen on a national scale. Start-ups in the hydrogen sector are therefore naturally integrated into these territorial ecosystems and develop their products in an integrated approach,” says the firm, not to mention large groups, which rely on collaboration with young companies to accelerate their energy transition.
Pays de la Loire: the green hydrogen ecosystem is being built, December 10, 2021
