Official Launch of the FrHyGe Project, Coordinated by Storengy
On March 20, 2024, a major milestone was achieved as 17 European partners came together for the official launch of the FrHyGe project.
This initiative, spearheaded by Storengy marks a significant step forward in advancing sustainable energy solutions across Europe.
Project Coordinator
Storengy, an ENGIE subsidiary, is one of the world leaders in underground natural gas storage. The company has 21 sites in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. With 70 years of experience in exploring and exploiting the subsoil, it is working to transform its storage facilities to accommodate 100% renewable gases and is mobilising its skills to develop hydrogen storage infrastructures.
Its local roots enable Storengy to take concrete action on environmental, economic and social issues, for the benefit of local communities. Storengy also applies its expertise to industrial and energy storage projects in France and abroad.
Clean Hydrogen Partnership
The Clean Hydrogen Partnership supports research and innovation (R&I) activities in hydrogen technologies in Europe. It aims to accelerate the development of advanced, market-ready clean hydrogen applications in end-use sectors such as energy, transport, construction and industry, while strengthening the competitiveness of the clean hydrogen value chain.
The members of the partnership are the European Commission, the fuel cell and hydrogen industries represented by Hydrogen Europe and the research community represented by Hydrogen Europe Research.
We are excited to be launching the FRHYGE project, which will demonstrate the feasibility of intelligent, energy-efficient operation of an underground hydrogen storage facility in salt caverns in Manosque, France. Building on the results of the first Hypster demonstration project at Etrez, these two initiatives can be replicated at other sites and help realise the benefits of hydrogen technologies across the European Union. Visit the unique characteristics of the Manosque site will enable the FRHYGE project to take advantage of two neighbouring salt caverns to carry out 100 cycles of hydrogen storage, pushing back the limits of the art in terms of underground hydrogen storage to an unprecedented level.
Partners
Armines is a French private non-profit research and technological organisation. Armines and Mines Paris PSL are gathering public and private personnel and means to collaborate and perform contractual research activities and academic research training. In addition, Armines has the duty to manage research contractual activities and the related intellectual property rights of its partner engineering school.
Artelys is a French consultancy and software edition company specialised in the modelling and optimisation of energy systems. The solutions offered by Artelys inform investment choices (e.g., cost-benefit-risk analysis, hydrogen ecosystem sizing, etc.) and support the development of operational strategies to manage flexibility solutions taking into account multiple types of operational constraints (e.g., optimisation of the bidding strategies of flexibility solutions on electricity markets). Active for more than 20 years, Artelys successfully combines advanced techniques in mathematical optimisation, data science and artificial intelligence with a detailed understanding of the business issues faced by its clients. Project promoters, producers, associations, network operators, communities, regulators, ministries, etc. trust Artelys and its 130 engineers to inform their choices through studies and the implementation of software solutions.
he Axens Group (www.axens.net) offers a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass into cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates, the chemical recycling of plastics, natural gas treatment and conversion options, water treatment and carbon capture. Their offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services. Axens is ideally positioned to cover the entire value chain, from feasibility studies to start-up and monitoring of units throughout their lifecycle. This unique position guarantees optimum performance and a reduced environmental footprint. Axens’ international offering is based on highly qualified human resources, modern production facilities and an extensive global network for industrial, technical support and sales services. Axens is an IFPEN Group company.
The Capenergies competitiveness cluster facilitates the emergence of innovative projects and supports their financing and development to accelerate the Energy Transition in the territories. It runs a dynamic network of nearly 320 members – large industrial groups, companies including a majority of SMEs & start-ups, research and training centers, communities and financiers specializing in energy and associated uses. It intervenes for the benefit of low-carbon energy sectors and its established members in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Corsica, Guadeloupe as well as in the Principality of Monaco.
ECO-MED is a biodiversity consultancy company created in 2003 to assist stakeholders to develop their projects with the best biodiversity management practices within the framework of the regulatory requirements.
Beyond the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, where the company headquarters are based, the field knowledge of ECO-MED’s experts radiates throughout the Mediterranean basin, in the Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions, in Corsica, but also outside our borders.
ECO-MED’s activities revolve around 5 main fields of action: ecological expertise and advice, technical and scientific assistance, ecological mediation, ecosystems restoration and conservation, as well as technical and regulatory training.
ECO-MED’s main objective is the conservation of biodiversity, contributing to the development of the local economy while pursuing a sustainable development approach.
Enagás is a Transmission System Operator (TSO) with 50 years’ experience in the development, operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure. It has more than 12,000 kilometers of gas pipelines, three underground storage facilities and eight regasification plants, four of which are wholly owned by Enagás and four others in which the company has a significant stake. The company operates in eight countries: Spain, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Germany, Albania, Greece and Italy. In Spain, it is the Technical Manager of the Gas System and operates as provisional Manager of the hydrogen backbone network. In line with its commitment to energy transition, Enagás has announced its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040, with a firm commitment to decarbonisation and the promotion of renewable gases, especially hydrogen.
ESK GmbH is a renowned engineering company for energy storage and systems services and has successfully completed national and international projects for many years. Its team of highly qualified engineers and geoscientists has extensive experience and know-how in the fields of aquifer and salt cavern storage technologies. In total, ESK has 54 employees in Holzwickede and Freiberg, as well as in its Leipzig and Stassfurt offices, in Germany.
Géométhane owns an underground natural gas storage site within salt caverns, located in the South of France, in the Manosque and Dauphin municipalities, and inside the “Parc naturel régional du Luberon”. Established in 1993 and operated by Storengy, this storage facility has nine salt caverns, seven of which have been dedicated to natural gas storage for 30 years. This industrial site plays a significant role in the energy supply of the Southern region, thanks to the volumes stored in its infrastructure and its location (about 300 million cubic meters of natural gas, representing 2/3 of Marseille’s annual gas consumption). With its expertise in underground gas storage, Géométhane is committed to actively contributing to the energy transition at the European level by offering its facilities and infrastructure for the secure storage of hydrogen, a critical element in the value chain. Géométhane is a partnership whose equal members are Storengy and Géosud.
An international engineering company specialised in underground storage solutions for energies, Geostock has gradually established global leadership in underground energy storage. Building on more than 55 years of experience, Geostock has acquired top-level experience in all underground storage techniques, with unique expertise in the implementation of safe, economical and environmentally respectful infrastructure. Geostock is engaged in the development of underground storage of decarbonized energy, including hydrogen in salt caverns, porous media (aquifers or depleted fields) and mined lined rock caverns.
IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN) is a major research and training player in the fields of energy, transport and the environment. From scientific concepts within the framework of fundamental research, through to technological solutions in the context of applied research, innovation is central to its activities, hinged around four strategic directions: climate, environment and circular economy – renewable energies – sustainable mobility – responsible oil and gas.
Ineris (Institut national de l’environnement industriel et des risques) is a public industrial and commercial establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. This institute conducts research activities on behalf of public authorities, industrial operators and public bodies in the fields of assessment, prevention and control of risks linked to industrial activities, particularly in underground environments. Over the years, Ineris has developed solid expertise in the field of environmental risk assessment related to underground storage activities. The institute has large-scale laboratories for tests involving hydrogen. Their expertise is based on experimental skills (especially in situ) in the fields of digital modelling and risk assessment methods in health, safety and the environment.
Mines Paris PSL (affiliated entity of Armines) is one of the oldest French higher education institutions in engineering. With 17 common research centres shared with Armines and extending over five different fields, among which are earth sciences, environment, and energy and process engineering, Mines Paris PSL is the leading school in France for its volume of contractual research. In this project, Armines and Mines Paris PSL will be represented by the Geosciences research centre, which has been working on salt caverns for solution mining and energy storage for more than 45 years, and has developed skills in laboratory testing as well as in constitutive and numerical modelling.
