Will This New Partnership Develop Hydrogen in France?

After Total and Engie signed a cooperation agreement to design, develop, build, and operate the Masshylia project, HIL looks at how this will benefit France’s hydrogen goals.

Total and Engie have signed a cooperation agreement to design, develop, build, and operate the Masshylia project, France’s largest renewable hydrogen production site at Châteauneuf-les-Martigues in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur South region. 

Located at the heart of Total’s La Mède biorefinery and powered by solar farms with a total capacity of more than 100 MW, the 40 MW electrolyser will produce 5 tonnes of green hydrogen per day.  

It meets the needs of the biofuel production process at Total’s La Mède biorefinery, avoiding 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. 

The project also integrates the implementation of five innovations that prefigure the industry’s decarbonisation solutions, without any precedent in Europe. 

These include a digital piloting system for the continuous supply of hydrogen with real-time management of solar electricity production, optimising the integration of several photovoltaic farms supplying the electrolyser to minimise energy losses and limit grid congestion and large-scale hydrogen storage to balance intermittent electricity production and continuous hydrogen consumption. 

A direct current connection between a photovoltaic farm and the electrolyser to improve the energy balance is also included, as well as enhanced industrial safety thanks to the use of 3D digital models for each component of the installation.