Low-Carbon Hydrogen: A new production plant on the Seine Axis (France)
by Clémence Rebours 24 Nov 2023 23:03 PST
Haropa Port and Verso Energy signed an agreement © Jean-Francois Damois
On Wednesday 22 November, HAROPA PORT and VERSO ENERGY signed an agreement for the installation of a plant to produce low-carbon hydrogen and synthetic fuels on HAROPA PORT land in Grand-Quevilly.
This production plant will be set up on an area of land belonging to HAROPA PORT | Rouen in the town of Grand-Quevilly at the administrative boundary with Petit-Couronne. This development project will help both secure and expand the local industrial ecosystem. The facility is projected to come on stream by 2029.
The project
The project is slated to produce hydrogen by water electrolysis and will be capable of providing capacity of 350MW, corresponding to an annual volume of more than 50,000 tonnes of hydrogen, in return for an investment of around €500m. It is to be accompanied by a plant producing synthetic fuels using captured, recycled CO2, and creating some 150 direct and 250 indirect jobs. The project will contribute in this way to decarbonising industrial sites in the port area and the maritime and aviation sectors, in which demand for sustainable fuels can be seen to be increasing significantly.
Hydrogen: a resource for decarbonising mobility and industry
The new production plant has strategic importance for HAROPA PORT and generally for the Rouen port community. This is so because it will help sustain a dynamic that is driving industrial development and renewal centred on the technologies and forms of production of the future as components of the energy transition and decarbonisation of industrial activities across the region. Ports are faced with major issues arising from decarbonisation for which decarbonised hydrogen will increasingly be an essential resource. There are numerous use cases for hydrogen in port ecosystems, ranging from freight handling to maritime transport, and including road and rail mobility.
Dominique Ritz, deputy CEO of HAROPA PORT, and Antoine Huard, CEO of Verso Energy, signed the site occupancy agreement at the local regional offices of HAROPA PORT | Rouen, most notably in the presence of Jean-Benoît Albertini, the Prefect of Seine-Maritime, Thierry Coquil, head of the directorate for infrastructure, transport and mobility (DGITM), Nicolas Rouly, mayor of Grand-Quevilly and vice-chair of the Rouen Normandy urban district authority, Aline Louisy-Louis, vice-chair of Normandy's Regional Authority, and Olivier Morzelle, head of the regional directorate for local development and housing (DREAL).
"We are proud to host the future production plant for decarbonised hydrogen proposed by VERSO ENERGY on Rouen port land. This major project comes as confirmation that the Seine Axis is a new-fuels, new-mobility valley. Once again, HAROPA PORT has shown itself to be a key actor in the energy and ecological transition, serving local regions and the economic fabric", declared Stéphane Raison, CEO of HAROPA PORT.
"This industrial project is totally aligned with the national strategy for the development of hydrogen and sustainable fuels as essential vectors of industrial and transport decarbonisation. Rouen is a particularly favourable location for a project of this kind, given the central position of its port industrial zone along the Seine Axis and its connections to the Trapil network for fuel delivery to end-consumers. We are pleased to be able to work with HAROPA PORT in driving this project, resolutely determined as we are to contribute to the reindustrialisation of the country and the decarbonisation of our economy", declared Antoine Huard, CEO of VERSO ENERGY.
"Rouen Normandy urban district authority welcomes the arrival of Verso Energy, which will boost the drive to regenerate Rouen's port areas, creating a new activity that will be a source of direct and indirect jobs. The urban district authority wishes to thank HAROPA PORT's teams for their commitment to this new facility. The Seine Valley has a major role to play in decarbonising mobility and developing technologies that provide solutions. This major investment is a contribution to that", underscored Nicolas Mayer Rossignol, chair of the Rouen Normandy urban district authority, Abdelkrim Marchani, vice-chair with responsibility for the economy, attractiveness, higher education and research, student affairs, digital technology, Europe and international affairs, and Nicolas Rouly, vice-chair of the city authority and mayor of Grand-Quevilly.
"In France, Normandy Regional Authority has shown itself to be a pioneer in the development of new uses for hydrogen. As an industrial region in the first rank, comprising sectors of great importance such as logistics and ports, as well as an energy mix among the most diversified in France, Normandy enjoys exceptional advantages for the development of what is an energy source of the future. It is for that reason that very early on the Regional Authority identified hydrogen as an essential resource not only for its energy transition but also as a vector for decarbonised growth. I am delighted to see the creation of this new industrial plant for the production of low-carbon hydrogen and synthetic fuels on HAROPA PORT land in Grand-Quevilly. This project is absolutely a contribution to achieving the Regional Authority's ambitions for the industrial development of Normandy and comes as one more in a long series of industrial investments on the Seine Axis, the favoured location of the leading national port complex, which possesses extraordinary potential for becoming a region at the crossroads of global economic flows, making it a participant in the reindustrialisation of our economy and at the same time a promoter of a more virtuous development model", stated Hervé Morin, chair of Normandy Regional Authority.
