2023-05-20 08:41:47
Here is the machine « torture ». A traction machine, its exact name. She « torture » steel, as explained by a technician at our side. The metal can be subjected to a strong pressure of 100 bars. For the purposes of the experiment, test specimens contain plates, after cutting a large pipe.
The FenHYx trial platform is working on a revival. Inside a brick building, in Alfortville (Val-de-Marne), it is a question of verifying that the material of the fossil gas pipes can be used later for the large-scale transport of low-carbon hydrogen , which is still at the hypothesis stage. You have to see it “a way to find a growth relay, new activities”, according to Geoffroy Anger, head of hydrogen development at GRTgaz. The main operator of the gas transmission network in the country inaugurated the premises in November 2021.
“Hydrogen, which could take an increasing place in the French energy mix in the years to come, has interactions with the gas system, but these should not be overestimated”according to the Energy Regulatory Commission, in a report on the future of gas infrastructure published in April.
Of course, the end of fossil gas is not for tomorrow, especially since prices have been at their lowest since mid-2021. However, European managers are already planning for 2050. In the name of carbon neutrality, the objective targeted on the continent, it would then be a question of recycling their infrastructures.
Either, mainly, for renewable gases, for example from agricultural waste. This would not imply any modification compared to fossil gas, since it is also a question of methane (CH4). Either for hydrogen (H2) low-carbon, which is still in its infancy, thanks to electrolysers from renewable or nuclear energies. Industry already consumes this molecule, but as a raw material, in a polluting form, by steam reforming gas.
Adapt compressor stations
GRTgaz is preparing the conversion of 70 kilometers between France and Germany, for commercial commissioning expected in 2027. In the longer term, between 2040 and 2050 according to Mr. Anger, the company hopes for a “target network” nearly 4,000 kilometers of hydrogen pipelines in the country. Of the “national arteries”in order to supply large industrial basins. Almost half (“between 1,500 and 2,000 kilometers”) would come from pipelines previously assigned to gas. Sknowing that the manager, majority owned by the gas supplier Engie (ex-GDF), has a total network of 32,000 kilometers.
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