Lhyfe and AREC Occitanie inaugurate green hydrogen production site

This green and renewable hydrogen production site is one of the region’s levers for achieving its objectives under the Occitanie H2 Corridor project, aimed at decarbonising goods and passenger transport. The Lhyfe Occitanie production site is owned 80% by Lhyfe and 20% by AREC Occitanie. It will begin operating commercially in the 1H24.

Two years after its first site in the Pays de la Loire region, France, Lhyfe is inaugurating two new production units this month, in Occitanie and Brittany, France, thus confirming its promise of large-scale industrial deployment (five other sites are already under construction or expansion across Europe). These two new sites – each with five times the production capacity of the historic site – meet the growing market demand for green and renewable hydrogen.

It is also an important week for the Occitanie Region, which is laying the first operational building blocks of its ambitious €150 million 'Green Hydrogen' plan, announced in 2019. With the inauguration of Lhyfe Occitanie, the region is launching the concrete deployment of the projects selected under the Occitanie H2 Corridor project.

At the Triangle business park in Bessières, a few dozen km from Toulouse, Lhyfe Occitanie will now produce up to 2 tpd of green and renewable hydrogen (i.e. a production capacity from electrolysis of 5 MW), with the possibility of further ramping up production to keep pace with changing uses and needs. 2 t of hydrogen would enable a hydrogen truck to travel around 25 000 km, without emitting a single gram of CO₂. With the equivalent quantity, a car could go around the earth five times, or travel around 200 000 km.

Lhyfe Occitanie hydrogen is produced through the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity. Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contracts signed with renewable electricity producers (including VSB Energies Nouvelles and Kallista Energy) ensure the power supply.

The Lhyfe Occitanie production site is owned 80% by Lhyfe and 20% by AREC Occitanie. The Occitanie Region is coordinating the Occitanie H2 Corridor project. The project’s co-financiers are the EU (with a €14.6 million grant under the Transport part of the Connecting Europe Facility, known as CEF Transport Blending Facility or CEF TBF) and the European Investment Bank (through a €40 million loan contracted by the region). It is in this context that the Lhyfe Occitanie project was selected at the end of 2021 by the Occitanie Region following a call for projects. Under the programme, Occitanie is providing €6 million, including €4.1 million as a repayable advance and €1.9 million in grants.

The Occitanie H2 Corridor is part of the North–South European hydrogen corridor project, which aims to decarbonise goods and passenger transport on an axis running between the Mediterranean and the North Sea. This site will help to decarbonise transport by supplying green and renewable hydrogen to trucks, coaches and other fuel cell vehicles. The aim is to have two renewable hydrogen production facilities by the end of 2024, initially representing a total six tpd of output, eight hydrogen fuel stations (delivering 600 to 1 200 kg/d), 40 hydrogen-powered trucks, 62 refrigerated trailers/units and 15 regional interurban buses retrofit to run on hydrogen which will be delivered in 1H24.

Lhyfe Occitanie could also deliver the other refuelling stations that will be built in the region. In addition, thanks to its scalable production capacity, this site will also meet the green and renewable hydrogen needs of industry (e.g. aeronautics and equipment manufacturing), transport/logistics providers and local authorities in the area wishing to rapidly decarbonise their mobility and/or processes.

 

 

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/other-renewables/11122023/lhyfe-and-arec-occitanie-inaugurate-green-hydrogen-production-site/