The energy transition and climate change adaptation are long-term challenges that must be addressed. Within this context, the European Union has set itself ambitious objectives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. La Mède, an industrial site of TotalEnergies, is fully in line with this strategy, as in 2019 already, the Company converted the refinery into a world-class biorefinery.

The conversion was the first step toward achieving total carbon neutrality on the site. In addition, the hydrogen produced from fossil fuels is now being replaced by decarbonized hydrogen. TotalEnergies and Engie, two global energy operators, partnered to develop an ambitious project consisting of producing decarbonized hydrogen through water electrolysis, one of the very first at industrial scale. The Masshylia project is fully in line with the regional hydrogen plan of the Sud – Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region presented in December 2020.

The aim of the project is to maximize the proportion of renewable energies used to produce hydrogen. The renewable energy mix of the project will essentially comprise solar and wind power and the renewable share of the electricity originating from the French electricity mix.

A hydrogen storage unit at the heart of the plant is being considered to manage the intermittent nature of the renewable power feeding the electrolyzer and to meet the need of the biorefinery for a constant energy supply.

The two partners now want to fast-track the development of the sector and are considering bringing the electrolyzer into service by the end of 2025/early 2026. They are also studying the possibility of increasing its capacity to achieve a nominal power of 125 MW, equivalent to producing 15 kt/year of hydrogen.

This decision fits into an international context where France is seeking to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and step up its energy sovereignty. The project will also help the basin of the Sud region in its virtuous energy transition, particularly the decarbonization of the biofuel manufacturing process of TotalEnergies’ biorefinery.

For the most part, the hydrogen produced will be consumed by the biorefinery. It will also serve in applications related to heavy mobility in order to develop a hydrogen ecosystem across the territory.

In addition, the project aims to create and support a Safety Center of Excellence based on local and international expertise. The Center of Excellence will develop in four key areas:

• Providing training and education on the topics related to hydrogen safety.
• Welcoming start-ups from the hydrogen sector who want to test their technologies or equipment.
• Standardizing/normalizing the links forming the hydrogen production value chain.
• Supporting R&D projects based on the development of innovative safety models.

The project will be implemented provided that financial support mechanisms and the preliminary authorizations from the competent competition authorities have been obtained. The project has submitted subsidy requests through several call for projects for the production of decarbonized hydrogen launched at French and European levels, including the IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) mechanism. On March 8, 2022, the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Recovery indicated in a press release that the Masshylia project was one of the 15 French projects pre-notified as part of the IPCEI.

The Masshylia project will serve to bring together the different players of the sector (partners, suppliers, contractors, and stakeholders), the aim being to develop a largely French and European value chain that can be replicated on other sites in France and abroad. The wide-scale deployment of this value chain will reduce costs and accelerate the development of decarbonized hydrogen uses in France.

More details on Masshylia’s detailed card.