GRTgaz, the main manager of the gas transmission network in France, launched a call for interest on January 12, 2023 to gain a deeper understanding of needs and thus confirm the economic interest of a hydrogen transmission infrastructure by pipeline linking the industrial and port zone of Fos-sur-Mer and the storage capacities located in Manosque, named HYnframed.
CThis area was also chosen to host the arrival of BarMar, the first hydrogen pipeline decided at European level that will connect Spain to France. GRTgaz thus proposes to study the development, construction and operation of a dedicated hydrogen infrastructure accessible to all market players by 2028, following on from an initial feasibility study carried out in 2022.
Fos-sur-Mer has been identified as a promising and strategic basin for hydrogen. Indeed, the presence of heavy industries such as steelmaking, refining, petrochemicals and energy makes Fos-sur-Mer one of the areas with high potential for reducing emissions with a mature ecosystem, oriented towards low-carbon and renewable hydrogen as a vector for decarbonization. In addition, the industrial-port area is one of the leading logistics hubs in France (land, sea and airport) and thus presents opportunities for decarbonization of the mobility sector. Finally, it benefits from the proximity of gas storage projects.
Tshared transport
EIn 2022, GRTgaz, supported by ADEME and the Sud Region, and in collaboration with a group of pioneering industrialists, carried out an initial feasibility study of a shared transport network. This study confirms the possibility of an infrastructure connecting hydrogen production and consumption projects to hydrogen storage projects identified in the region, as well as to the BarMar project in the long term.
Following on from this study, the call for interest (Open Season) launched on January 12 aims to confirm the interest in such a hydrogen transport infrastructure by pipeline in the Fos-sur-Mer area to Manosque. This call for interest for the HYnframed project is aimed at all hydrogen-related project leaders interested in a future infrastructure in the industrial-port area (industrial consumers, developers of production or storage projects), as well as mobility stakeholders. All are invited to participate in the first phase of the call for interest by expressing their expression of interest in the HYnframed project to GRTgaz.
The call for interest for the HYnframed project will be structured in two phases: a first non-binding phase (this expression of interest) to confirm the needs and to allow the type of infrastructure to be developed to be detailed. A second binding phase to contract transport capacities with all interested parties and decide on the corresponding investment. Depending on the confirmation of the market’s interest, specific technical studies will detail the elements of the technical solution, the route, the planning of the project, its environmental impacts and will allow the administrative file and the transport offer to be constituted.
The first phase of the call for interest will be open until March 10, 2023.
Hydrogen backbone
L’infrastructure HYnframed proposed is consistent with the vision of the European Hydrogen Backbone promoted by around thirty gas transport operators in Europe to ensure the security of supply for hydrogen consumers and the creation of a common European market. In particular, it will connect the Fos-sur-Mer area to the Manosque salt cavern hydrogen storage project and to the H2Med corridor from Portugal, via the BarMar hydrogen pipeline.
For Thierry Trouvé, CEO of GRTgaz, “This new phase of the HYnframed project is the final step before offering the market transport capacities in the Fos-sur-Mer area, an area characterized by its strong dynamism in terms of hydrogen projects, by the presence of a massive hydrogen storage project in salt cavities in Manosque and by the future arrival of the BarMar hydrogen pipeline. This project is part of GRTgaz’s strategy of developing local ecosystems, with GRTgaz playing the role of facilitator for the development of production and consumption projects, to then interconnect these ecosystems with each other and with storage, in line with the vision expressed in the European Hydrogen Backbone.”
