Innovation supporting regional energy policies

GRTgaz makes its innovations available to regional authorities by providing regional data about networks and consumption (open data), open innovation, and, of course, the development of biogas and Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV).

Biomethane offers consumers access to local renewable energy that boosts rural development and generates additional income for the farming industry. Biogas is produced by the breakdown of organic matter. Once purified, it becomes biomethane which can be injected into the natural gas transmission network.

GRTgaz supports the production and injection of biomethane into the network by:

• helping to develop local and regional sectors,
• contributing to Smart Grid projects to optimise biomethane injection capacities,
• supporting the emergence of second-generation renewable gas sectors.

Like all operators, GRTgaz is involved in designing and publishing zoning diagrams for areas whose gas deposits are more or less favourable for biomethane.

Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV or bio-NGV) reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollutants (e.g. nitrogen oxides and fine particles). It is used in particular for buses, coaches and HGVs. This fuel is attractive to regional authorities in several areas, including:

• sustainable mobility development (fight against global warming and air quality preservation),
• economic performance,
• reducing noise pollution.

GRTgaz actively supports the development of NGV throughout the regions. It uses industrial partnerships, its internal engineering skills, and its technical expertise in gas compression to support project leaders. Likewise, it helps bolster the sector by connecting and promoting an essential network of gas fuelling points that meets the needs of all types of vehicle.

GRTgaz has a vibrant innovation policy that extends to both internal and external projects. This approach is largely focused on the regions via GRTgaz facilities.

The Open Innovation Factory is a way for the company to open up and share its innovation challenges with a wide range of external parties, including VSEs/SMEs, startups, competitiveness clusters and academia. Developing NGV was one of the topics addressed by the Open Innovation Factory in 2019. In 2020, their teams put out information on six new topics, one of which was the need for “smart” paintwork to detect corrosion in our pipelines.

>> See the GRTgaz Open Innovation platform

At the same time, GRTgaz is developing its own Challenges Innovation (Innovation Challenges), an annual internal ideas competition managed by the Innovation Department that brings together all the company’s regions and professions in a spirit of cooperation, transversality and practical innovation. The initiative is extremely popular with all participating teams.