French power first

McPhy Energy, which specialises in hydrogen production and storage equipment for industry and energy markets, has been selected as a supplier and partner for the power-to-gas ‘Jupiter 1000’ project that was officially launched in conjunction with COP21. As part of the project, McPhy will supply GRTgaz with hydrogen production equipment with a total power of 1 MW. As key components of this project, McPhy electrolysers transform surplus energy originating from renewable sources into hydrogen. This green hydrogen will be injected into the natural gas network either directly or after transformation into methane, the principal constituent of natural gas.

Jupiter 1000 is the first French power-to-gas project seeking to store renewable electricity by injecting hydrogen and methane synthesis into the gas supply network. The project is to be commissioned in 2018 in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône), setting the stage for the deployment of the French power-to-gas sector.

By transforming surplus electricity originating from wind and solar energy into hydrogen, power-to-gas offers a solution to the problem caused by surplus production that will become more challenging with the inevitable acceleration in the development of intermittent renewables.