The Tenore Project: recovering energy from the gas pressure reduction process
One of the challenges facing GRTgaz is how to design and operate energy infrastructures with the best possible environmental footprint. The Tenore facility is a practical example that explores ways of recovering so-called “pressure reduction” energy.
Gas is transported at high pressure. It must therefore be depressurized prior to delivery using pressure reducing valves – a process that releases “pressure” energy. The Tenore project, supported by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), will test the collection and recovery of this energy.
The project is centred on a demonstrator built by GRTgaz in Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d’Oise), which will be commissioned in 2022. This pilot site is fitted with a turboexpander designed by Enertime, an innovative SME based in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine).
The turbine operates a generator that will be able to produce and inject 17 GWh of electricity per year into the network, i.e. the equivalent annual consumption of 3,500 households. Use of the turbine increases the cold generated by gas pressure reduction. Two heating systems were therefore integrated into the demonstrator: a cogeneration unit producing both electricity and heat, and a connection to the urban heating network in the municipalities of Villiers-le-Bel and Gonesse.
The Tenore project also gives rise to synergies between the gas, electricity and heating networks. It clearly falls under GRTgaz’s stated goals of supporting the energy transition and exploring new action areas in the quest for carbon neutrality.
