Storengy launches MéthyCentre

Storengy, European leader in energy storage, launches the MéthyCentre project

Due to the growing share of renewable energy in the energy mix in France and the world, energy storage capacities need to be developed to use these energy sources in a more efficient way. Power-to-Gas is one of the innovative solutions allowing to benefit from the renewable power surplus by transforming it into hydrogen or synthetic methane while recycling carbon dioxide (CO₂) and making the gas in our networks greener.

Located in the French region of Centre-Val de Loire, MéthyCentre, the first Power-to-Gas demonstrator coupled to methanation in France, will contribute to the development of renewable energy (power and gas) while taking part in the launch of a new Power-to-Gas industrial sector in France. The country has recently created a hydrogen deployment plan to support the energy transition.

MéthyCentre associates a pilot Power-to-Gas unit and a methanation unit which work with local agricultural waste. Storengy will use the local wind and photovoltaic power production and the CO₂ from the biogas produced by the methanation plant. The facility shall be commissioned by 2021 and produce three carbon-free gas types: biomethane, hydrogen and synthetic methane. Thus, the renewable energy surplus will be made available according to the needs of the consumers in the Centre-Val de Loire region.

All carbon-free gases may be injected into Storengy’s underground storage site in Céré-la-Ronde (Indre-et-Loire). They will supply clean energy for domestic and industrial uses, as well as green mobility (trains, buses, cars, bicycles). The MéthyCentre project is thus a complete energy system and an excellent, environmentally friendly lever of economic development providing sustainable growth to the Centre-Val de Loire region.

With the support of local players such as the Chambers of Agriculture of the departments Loir-et-Cher and Indre-et-Loire, as well as the Junior Economic Chamber of Tours, the MéthyCentre project is the result of long-standing, close collaboration between Storengy and its different partners. Indeed, Atmostat masters the catalytic methanation technology, Areva H2GEN offers Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis, Prodeval resolves the question of gas treatment and the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energy Commission (CEA) provides its know-how in the field of methanation reactor design and controlling, as well as PEM electrolyser components. Storengy will coordinate, steer and integrate the different stakeholders of this project.

The MéthyCentre project has been awarded the S2E2 (Smart Electricity Cluster) label and is supported by the “Investing in the Future” (PIA) programme operated by the French Environment and Energy Agency (ADEME). It also benefits from financial support by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Centre-Val de Loire region.

It is one of Storengy's priorities to commit itself to the energy transition and to make its skills available to the territories and the industry, today and in the future. Our teams engage in carbon-free energy production and storage and renewable gas development projects (biomethane, hydrogen, synthetic methane, …) in France, Germany, the UK, and elsewhere in Europe, and thus contribute to the development of carbon-free industrial, heating and mobility applications.

MéthyCentre enables Storengy to ensure its legitimacy as a key player in the development of innovative, underground or surface-based carbon-free energy production and storage solutions, for the industry, for mobility and for injection into the gas network.

About Storengy

Storengy, an ENGIE subsidiary, is one of the world leaders in underground natural gas storage. It designs, builds and operates storage facilities and offers its customers innovative products based on the extensive know-how it has acquired through 60 years’ experience with different markets and regulatory environments. The company owns 21 natural gas storage sites with a total capacity of 12.2 bn m³. Drawing on its world-renowned knowledge and its experience in storage operation and sales in France, Germany and the UK, Storengy is positioned today as a key player in the development of geothermal energy (heat/cold production and power generation), as well as innovative production and storage solutions for carbon-free energy (biomethane, hydrogen, Power-to-Gas, synthetic methane…). Storengy supplies its know-how to customers worldwide in a vast range of projects, favouring an industrial approach forged around partnerships.