Launch of a call for hydrogen interest in Fos-sur-Mer
On 12 January 2023, GRTgaz – France's primary natural gas transmission system operator – launched a call for expressions of interest in order to gain more in-depth knowledge of needs and so confirm the economic interest in HYnframed – pipeline-based hydrogen transport infrastructure to link up the Fos-sur-Mer industrial and port area with storage facilities in Manosque. This area was also chosen to accommodate the arrival of the first France-Spain BarMar hydrogen pipeline – construction of which was decided at European level. Through this call for expressions of interest, GRTgaz will be able to investigate issues surrounding the development, construction and operation of hydrogen transport infrastructure that all market stakeholders would be able to access by 2028, following on from a preliminary feasibility study conducted in 2022.
Fos-sur-Mer has been identified as a promising and strategic basin for hydrogen. Indeed, it is home to numerous heavy industries, such as steelmaking, refining, petrochemicals and energy, making Fos-sur-Mer one of the high-potential areas for reducing emissions with a mature ecosystem geared towards low-carbon hydrogen and renewables as a vector for decarbonisation. Furthermore, the industrial-port area is one of the leading logistics hubs in France (land, sea and air). It thus has a number of opportunities for decarbonising the mobility sector. It is located close to gas storage infrastructure. Finally, the area was chosen to accommodate the first France-Spain BarMar hydrogen pipeline – construction of which was decided at European level.
In 2022, GRTgaz – supported by the ADEME and the southern region and in collaboration with a group of industrial pioneers – conducted an initial feasibility study into a shared transmission network. This study confirms the viability of infrastructure connecting hydrogen production and consumption projects to the hydrogen storage projects identified in the region, as well as to the proposed BarMar pipeline in the long term.
Following on from this initial study, the purpose of this call for expressions of interest (open season) launched today is to confirm interest in such pipeline-based hydrogen transport infrastructure in the area between Fos-sur-Mer and Manosque. This call for interest for the HYnframed project is aimed at all organisations leading hydrogen-related projects interested in future infrastructure in the industrial-port area (industrial consumers, developers of production or storage projects), as well as stakeholders operating in the mobility sector. They are all invited to take part in the first phase of the call for expressions of interest via a dedicated questionnaire.
The call for expressions of interest in the HYnframed project will involve two phases: an initial non-binding phase (this expression of interest) to confirm requirements and communicate details of the type of infrastructure that needs to be built. A second binding phase to contractually determine transmission capacities with all of the interested stakeholders and decide on the corresponding investments.
Main phases of the consultation procedure
Depending on whether or not market interest is confirmed, specific technical studies will detail the elements of the technical solution, the route, the project's schedule and its environmental impacts. This information will then be used to compile the administrative file and the transport offering.
The first phase of the call for expressions of interest will run until 10 March 2023.
The proposed HYnframed infrastructure is in line 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 European common market. In particular, it will make it possible to connect the Fos-sur-Mer area to the hydrogen storage project in salt caves in Manosque and to the H2Med corridor from Portugal, via the BarMar hydrogen pipeline.
For Thierry Trouvé, Managing Director of GRTgaz, “This new phase of the HYnframed project is the last stage before offering transmission capacities to the market in the Fos-sur-Mer area. This area is highly dynamic in terms of the numbers of hydrogen projects underway, and is characterised by the presence of a hydrogen storage project in salt caves in Manosque, as well as by the future arrival of the BarMar hydrogen pipeline. This project is in line with GRTgaz’s strategy of developing local ecosystems, with GRTgaz playing the role of facilitator in developing production and consumption projects, to then interconnect these ecosystems with each other and with storage facilities, in line with the vision articulated for the European Hydrogen Backbone”.
