HDF to construct baseload power plant using green hydrogen, plans Australia expansion

The project includes a solar park coupled with what HDF Energy claims is the “largest green hydrogen storage of intermittent electricity sources” at 128 MWh. Importantly, the company also simultaneously announced expansion plans into Australia, saying its hydrogen technology will soon be available here, adding that it has “projects already in development for Australia”.

October 1, 2021 Emiliano Bellini and Bella Peacock

A rendering of the project.

From pv magazine Global

French hydrogen specialist HDF Energy has announced it has secured a 25-year power purchase agreement for its Centrale Electrique de l’Ouest Guyanais (CEOG) project – a PV park and 128 MWh, hydrogen-based storage station in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, in northwestern French Guiana.

The facility will sell power at an undisclosed price to French power utility EDF. “The price of CEOG electricity is competitive with diesel power plant[s] in French Guiana and this, without including the negative externalities of … fossil [power] plants,” a spokesperson from the company told pv magazine.

The equity for the project will be provided by French investment firm and asset manager Meridiam, which owns a 60% stake in the project, and SARA, a refinery based in Martinique and supplying the French Antilles and Guiana. The non–recourse project financing will be awarded by commercial and development banks.

The facility relies on a 55 MW solar unit, a 16 MW electrolyser, storage tanks and 3 MW of fuel cells. The project is intended at covering the energy needs of 10,000 households of all Western Guiana. The facility will be able to produce a fixed electrical daily output of 10 MW until evening, and of 3 MW during the night.

The CEOG project was launched by developer and French hydrogen specialist HDF Energy in May 2018. At the time, the company said the value of the facility was estimated at around $90 million. The project was originally set to be commissioned last year.

Australia plans

In its Australian release on the project, HDF said the technology it’s using to construct the renewable energy power plant in French Guiana “will soon be available to Australia”.

The company also recently appointed a general manager for the Oceania region, David Clement, saying it already has projects in development for Australia and New Caledonia.

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