The energy company Engie will set up an alternative fuels platform at the port of Le Havre to accelerate the decarbonization of maritime and air transport. The announcement of these projects and the allocation of land to Engie will be formalized during the visit of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne this Tuesday to Le Havre where she is to meet Edouard Philippe, the mayor and president of the allied party of the presidential camp Horizons. Engie will deploy its Salamander and KerEAUzen projects on a 23-hectare plot in the Le Havre area of Haropa, a public establishment which merged the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris.
For a total of 1.2 billion euros in investments, “these two separate but complementary projects aim to contribute to the establishment of a decarbonization platform for the aeronautical and maritime industry” on the axis of the Seine, explained to AFP Sébastien Arbola, deputy director general of Engie. The Salamander project will make it possible to supply 11,000 tonnes per year of 2nd generation biomethane from 2027 for the needs of the maritime carrier CMA CGM, in a sector which is seeking to decarbonise by moving away from fuel oil and fossil gas. This renewable, low-carbon fuel will be obtained by “pyrogasification”, by heating dry waste that is currently unusable to a very high temperature to transform it into gas, in this case wood residues and solid waste from recovery.
The other, larger project, France KerEAUzen, valued at 1 billion euros, should make it possible, after a feasibility study, to supply 70,000 tonnes per year of e-kerosene (low-carbon synthetic fuel) from 2030, mainly for the needs of Air France. This fuel will be made from the combination of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen produced by an electrolysis unit of approximately 250 MW, and recycled CO2, the contributions of which are estimated at 270,000 tonnes. “Part of this CO2, ie 60,000 tonnes, will be recovered from the Salamander facilities”, the rest provided by local manufacturers, explained Sébastien Arbola.
This trip by the Prime Minister to Le Havre will be an opportunity to “illustrate the convergence of reindustrialization, territorial development, and ecological planning”, argued Matignon for his part during a press briefing. Elisabeth Borne will notably announce an envelope of 23 million euros in total for the three Normandy universities, winners of the 3rd wave of the call for projects of excellence for future investments within the framework of France 2030.
