Engie to Invest in Green Gas in France
Isabelle Kocher, Engie CEO, announced that EUR 800 million would be mobilized in the next five years to develop green gases, a new French sector of excellence that will create value and jobs in France.
François de Rugy, French Minister of State, Minister of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition was present during the announcement. This plan will support the objective of at least 10% green gas injected into the networks by 2030, as enshrined in the French Energy Transition Law for Green Growth.
The global energy and services group Engie is positioning itself throughout the entire value chain of the biomethane industry: from project development, in close collaboration with farmers, to the sale to end consumers. By 2030, ENGIE and its partners aim to mobilize a total of EUR2 billion to produce 5 TWh per year of biomethane by that date.
The Group’s objective is to support the sector’s industrialization to reduce costs by about 30 to 40% by 2030 and thereby achieve cost parity with natural gas. ENGIE is concentrating on standardizing, massifying and digitizing projects, and will be partnering with suppliers to facilitate their expansion in the market. This industrialization will enable the emergence of nationally-focused SMEs and will help increase the proportion of French technologies in relevant biogas projects.
The Beauce Gâtinais Biogas facility, located in the Centre-Val de Loire region, developed in partnership with members of the agricultural sector, is a perfect example of harmonious progress promoted by Engie, focusing on regional development.
This facility will produce 23 GWh of biomethane each year, the equivalent of the hot water and heating consumption of 1,750 households. The materials processed by the biogas plant mainly comprise agricultural by-products of plant origin from the AgroPithiviers cooperative and from local agri-food industries together with horse manure. The plant will also produce 20,000 tons of organic fertilizers which will be provided to members of the AgroPithiviers cooperative.
The construction began in May 2017. The project represents a total investment of EUR10 million.
During the inauguration, Isabelle Kocher said, “Gas, which will gradually become green, will play a key role in the decarbonation of our country, along with other sources of clean energy generation. Produced on the territory, green gas is easily storable and non-intermittent. As such, it has unique properties that make it the natural partner of electrical renewable energy sources. It will be an important vector of our country’s energy transition."
