CASE STUDY Storing hydrogen underground Géosel, the French company that operates the second largest European hydrocarbon storage facility, is beginning a transformation which will make it a major player in the production, distribution and storage of renewable hydrogen for industrial and mobility applications. Something is happening below the surface of the commune the Fos Basin is located at the crossroads of European freight of Manosque, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department and energy transport networks. of south-eastern France. There, below rolling foothills of the Alps, embedded in the Natural Parc of Luberon are 30 vast The Géosel green hydrogen is designed to be competitive, salt caverns evacuated to create underground storage for the thanks to an optimized integration of the production system - via nation’s national hydrocarbon reserve. They hold nine million a direct connection between the electrolyzer and the solar farm cubic metres of fossil fuels - enough to meet current French and second a direct delivery via pipelines of the hydrogen so demand for 45 days. They are also strategically located near produced to the customers – which include refiners, steelmakers, the port of Fos and connected by 400km of pipelines to the fertilizer manufacturers, and actors of the mobility sector. industrial ecosystem of Southern France and Marseille / Fos-sur-Mer harbour. “With the sustained increase in gas prices and considering France’s and Europe supporting policies, switching to renewable Combined with Géosel operational expertise in managing high hydrogen is to become a competitive option for potential end- security standard installations, such assets are those which can users” François Billard explains. position the company as the backbone of the territory’s energy transition. CAVERNS AND PIPELINES AS KEY LEVERS FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION MEETING THE GREEN HYDROGEN CHALLENGE Above the brine ponds, the existing salt caverns and pipelines Géosel’s salt caverns are directly connected to two vast can be converted so they can transport decarbonated energies: brine ponds, which serve to balance the level of stored “We know the consumption of fossils fuels is to decrease in the hydrocarbons... but also receives enough energy from the sun coming years, François Billard explains. Between the option to generate up to 800GWh per year of electricity using solar of allowing the value of our assets to deplete and that of PV panels. This electricity could then be used to produce green transforming them to make them levers for the energy transition, hydrogen that could be delivered to industries that need it to we’ll choose the second”. Decarbonized fuels and biodiesel decarbonize their process and to road mobility – knowing that will certainly come first, since heavy goods vehicles, ships and 56