Emerging renewable energies: our pioneering projects

Where: Semakau island, off the coast of Singapore.

Key date: Inaugurated on 26 November 2020.

Target capacity: 650 kW of electricity produced by a multi-fluid micro-network.

ENGIE takes the lead: SPORE (Sustainable Powering of Off-grid Regions) is an open-air laboratory that tests innovative low-carbon solutions. SPORE is made up of a system of electrolyzers and fuel cells that converts solar and wind energy into hydrogen. This green gas can then be used to charge the fuel cell of a vehicle, or is re-injected into the grid in the form of electricity.

See the press release
 

Where: Saint-Fons, France

ENGIE takes the lead: On 17 November 2020, one year after producing biomethane from forest biomass, the GAYA platform made a worldwide and historical breakthrough by producing its first cubic metres of renewable gas from Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), made up mainly of waste wood, cardboard and plastic from economic activities.

Where: Dunkirk, France.

Key date: 2018 to October 2020.

Installed capacity: 100 households, the heating system of a healthcare centre in a new housing estate, and a fleet of buses powered by hythane, a new gas made up of hydrogen and natural gas.
ENGIE takes the lead: up to 20% of hydrogen was injected into the neighbourhood’s natural gas network.
 

Where: Western Australia.

Key date: To be commissioned in 2023.

Target capacity: 10 MWc of photovoltaic electricity by 2028. A production capacity of 625 t/year of renewable hydrogen.

ENGIE takes the lead: This plant, which used natural gas, will be fuelled with renewable hydrogen, produced from solar energy to make green ammonia. The production of ammonia from renewable hydrogen will enable Norway’s Yara group to produce carbon-free fertilizers. 
 

Where: Montaigu, Vendée, France.

Key date: To be commissioned in 2019.

Capacity: 22 GWh/year of biomethane, which represents the gas consumption of 1,800 households. 250 Nm3 injected continuously into the gas transport network.

ENGIE takes the lead: The unit has a 313 kWc photovoltaic system to produce its own electricity. It recovers the substrates from 20 neighbouring farms that are transported partly by a system of pipelines in order to limit the use of road transport. The biomethane is then injected into the gas mains for use by industrial and domestic consumers. 

See the description of the plant

Where: South Africa.

Key date: The first demonstrator will be operational in the second half of 2021.

Capacity: 3.5 MW for the electrolyzer, 1,000 kg of storage, 9,000 m2 of facilities for the hydrogen supply chain.

ENGIE takes the lead: The RHyno project, launched jointly with the Anglo-American mining group, is developing and will test the first mining truck powered by green hydrogen in the world, with the support of a complete supply chain. A major step towards decarbonizing the mining industry, which produces very high levels of greenhouse gases. 
 

Where: 20 kilometers off the coast of Viana do Castelo, Portugal.

Key date: in October 2019, the first of the three  8.4 MW wind turbines was installed, followed by a second in December 2019, and a third in June 2020.

Target capacity: 25 MW, or the equivalent of the annual energy needs of 60,000 people.

ENGIE takes the lead: WindFloat Atlantic, the first semi-submersible floating wind farm in the world, builds on the success of the WindFloat1 prototype, which was in service from 2011 to 2016.