French environmental services firm Suez and a local public institution will build a 500kg/d green hydrogen plant using electricity from an existing energy-to-waste facility in Creteil, southeast of Paris.

The hydrogen plant is expected to start operating at the end of 2022 and will produce green hydrogen from electrolysis initially for use in local public transport and utilities. Hydrogen supply for private and commercial vehicles is also in the planning stage as the plant’s production capacity can rise to 1t/d.

“The station will also be able to accommodate fleets of vehicles from public or private companies through appropriate supply contracts,” a Suez spokeswoman tells Hydrogen Economist. “The station is designed in such a way as to be able to carry out this change in capacity in a very short time and enable it to adapt very quickly to changes in regional demand.”

Initially, public buses, household waste trucks and utility vehicles in the greater Paris area will be supplied with the plant’s green hydrogen, produced from electricity generated at the Val-de-Marne power plant, which turns household waste into electricity. It is the first such project in France and one of only a handful in Europe.

500kg/d – Green hydrogen from waste plant

The plant’s initial capacity of 500kg/d is sufficient to fuel 500 hydrogen-powered cars driving 100km a day, the companies say.

“This green hydrogen production and distribution plant will benefit air quality and the climate, as well as the economy in the local area concerned and its population,” says Jacques Martin, president of Sipperec, the local public institution partnering with Suez.

France has an ambitious hydrogen strategy which targets 6.5GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030, supported by €7bn ($8.4bn) of public funding for research and to support setting up first projects.

Suez is increasingly investing in sustainable projects as the company aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45pc by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Sipperec—the Outer Paris Intercommunal Syndicate for Energies and Communication Networks—encompasses 115 local authorities in the Paris region. It is the area’s largest public renewable energy producer, managing more than 90 solar plants.

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Author: Karolin Schaps