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.
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The facility relies on a 55 MW solar unit, a 16 MW electrolyzer, 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.
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I like this project because it has a complete solution for 24/7 power needs for the community. Night or cloudy days are powered by the fuel cells
which are pollution free and without batteries in the system.
Batteries for emergency use or backup power, in my opinion, is vastly inferior to this method.
I would like to know if other systems like this are being considered or is this a prototype. Is this company looking to sell this idea to small cities in the US?