The energy company Engie will install an alternative fuel platform in the port of Le Havre to accelerate the decarbonization of maritime and air transport, we learned this Tuesday from the industrialist and the government. The announcement of these projects and the allocation of land to Engie will be formalized during Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s visit to Le Havre on Tuesday, where she will meet Edouard Philippe, mayor and president of the presidential field’s allied party Horizons.
Engie will deploy its Salamander and KerEAUzen projects on a 23-hectare plot in the Le Havre area of Haropa, a public establishment that merged the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris. For a total of 1.2 billion euros in investments, “these two separate but complementary projects aim to contribute to the establishment of a decarbonisation platform for the aeronautical and maritime industry” in the Seine axis, explained to AFP Sébastien Arbola, deputy director general of Engie.
The Salamander project will make it possible to supply 11,000 tons of 2nd generation biomethane per year from 2027 for the needs of the maritime carrier CMA CGM, in a sector that seeks to decarbonize by moving away from fuel oil and fossil gas. This renewable and low-carbon fuel will be obtained by “pyrogasification”, heating dry waste that currently cannot be used to transform it into gas at a very high temperature, in this case wood waste and solid recovery waste.
Supply of 70,000 tons of e-kerosene per year
The other largest project, France KerEAUzen, valued at 1,000 million euros, should allow, after a feasibility study, to supply 70,000 tons of e-kerosene (low-carbon synthetic fuel) per year from 2030, mainly for the needs of Air France. This fuel will be obtained from the combination of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen produced by an electrolysis unit of approximately 250 MW, and recycled CO2, whose contributions are estimated at 270,000 tons.
“Part of this CO2, that is, 60,000 tons, will be recovered from the Salamander facilities”, the rest will be supplied by local manufacturers, explained Sébastien Arbola. This Prime Minister’s trip to Le Havre will be an opportunity to “illustrate the convergence of reindustrialization, territorial development and ecological planning”, argued Matignon on behalf of him during a press conference.
Elisabeth Borne will notably announce an endowment of 23 million euros in total for the three Normandy universities, winners of the 3rd wave of the call for projects of excellence for future investments within the framework of France 2030.
Source: BFM TV
