Developer of renewable energy solutions, the company VDN had the idea of associating hydrogen distribution with a new wind farm project which has attracted support from communities and citizens. A local circular economy for a better understood energy transition.
Created in 2013, the VDN company has to its credit 80 MW of installed wind farms, 150 MW under review and is working on a portfolio of 400 to 500 MW. The 15 people spread between its offices in Asnières-sur-Seine, Nantes and Montpellier have also focused since 2019 on the development of solar parks with 100 to 150 MW in the pipeline.
“We wanted to stand out from other projects by bringing territorial added value to our renewable electricity production parks while erasing the negative image that wind turbines too often generate today. Their interest is not understood by citizens, which makes their implementation very difficult today, indicates Nicolas Ugalde, director of VDN. We know that the key to acceptability lies in explanations, but also in the participation of local actors in a project. We started thinking 4 years ago to integrate our projects into a circular territorial economy. Hydrogen seemed to us to be able to be this vector, this link between a renewable electricity production unit and a local energy supply. We have therefore developed, in parallel with the establishment of a wind farm, a production and a hydrogen distribution station. This is how the Tupigny park was born, made up of 6 wind turbines of 3 MW each, work on which will begin at the start of the school year. »
Hydrogen station at your service!
The major interest is to be able to return to the village and its inhabitants the energy produced on their territory from the wind farm. This project will consist of a 10 kg hydrogen terminal located on the village square, allowing the charging of two Renault Kangoo-type utility vehicles. These vehicles will be self-service and free for the population of Tupigny. The terminal, connected to the wind farm via the network, will provide the electricity necessary for the daily operation of the two vehicles. The use of these vehicles was studied through a survey carried out among the inhabitants of Tupigny. A service approved by 80% of those questioned. This demonstrator allows the municipality to be a pioneer in the field of hydrogen with a clean energy project coupled with a wind farm. It meets the needs of a population in rural areas far from daily services, with free access to the nearest town (Saint-Quentin). “The most complicated thing was the lack of supply, both in service stations and in vehicles: this results in high prices, which massification should bring down,” explains Nicolas Ugalde. But more than acceptability, this project attracted the support of the mayor of the town and the citizens. » The latter better perceive the usefulness of local energy production. The mayor is already considering the possibility of producing a higher volume to operate buses or other municipal vehicles.
