Low-carbon and renewable hydrogen market stakeholders’ consultation
In June 2021, GRTgaz and Térega launched a national low-carbon and renewable gas stakeholders’ consultation. This revealed a need for network planning by GRTgaz and Térega to meet the needs of local, national and European hydrogen market stakeholders, and also to deliver long-term value to existing gas transmission infrastructures as part of the energy transition linked to the circular economy.
A vibrant hydrogen market and driven stakeholders
GRTgaz and Teréga received 133 responses to their consultation questionnaire. This allowed them to accurately identify 90 potential renewable gas production and/or consumption sites across the whole of France in connection with the energy transition.
Hydrogen stakeholders were keen to go beyond their questionnaire responses by asking GRTgaz and Teréga for more than 70 bilateral discussions to express their transport infrastructure expectations and needs in greater depth. On 6 October 2021, GRTgaz and Teréga published the initial findings from the low-carbon and renewable hydrogen market stakeholders’ consultation. Between November 2021 and January 2022, three regional workshops were run by GRTgaz and Teréga. These discussions confirmed local transport infrastructure and storage needs, paving the way for collaborations linked to the circular economy with various local stakeholders.
H2 consultation: initial findings
On 10 March 2022, GRTgaz and Teréga published their final debrief report and shared the findings from the low-carbon and renewable hydrogen market stakeholders consultation during an on-line event attended by Thierry Trouvé (GRTgaz CEO) and Dominique Mockly (Teréga CEO).
The event presented the respondents’ profiles, the main uses of hydrogen in their decarbonisation strategies, and their vision for the hydrogen market. GRTgaz and Teréga also gathered information about hydrogen market stakeholders’ needs for the rollout of H2 in France, as well as their expectations of infrastructure operators. Finally, the main features of the future low-carbon and renewable hydrogen market were discussed, and well as the first practical steps arising from the process. There was a presentation on dynamic ecosystems and the MosaHYc, rHYn and Hynframed projects.
Various market stakeholders took the floor as part of this debrief. This was a chance for them to compare their visions and needs for the rollout of H2 and CO2 transport and storage infrastructures.
Next steps
In 2022, GRTgaz and Teréga want to commit to meeting new national-level supply and demand dynamics. The aim is to facilitate and support development planning operations for H2 and CO2 infrastructures. New regional workshops well be held to support this process, supplemented by thematic workshops focussed on issues raised by market stakeholders in their consultation responses.
The consultation process launched in 2021 was repeated to collect regular information about evolving transport needs, and to ensure the co-construction of the network is working in the general interest. A new consultation will be launched in 2023.
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