Belgium’s Colruyt Group has announced that it is entering into a collaboration with Eoly, the retailer’s renewable energy producer, to build an industrial-scale power-to-gas system.
Eoly, along with the Belgian natural gas transmission system operator Fluxys and the offshore wind farm manufacturer Parkwind, plans to build an installation that converts green electricity into green hydrogen that can be transported and stored in the existing natural gas infrastructure.
The project is aimed at boosting Belgium’s hydrogen economy and create one of the first projects of its size in the country.
The installation will convert several megawatts of electricity into green hydrogen which can be marketed as carbon-free fuel or feedstock.
Unlocking Green Gas
“Our aim with this project is to unlock green gas as an additional renewable energy source alongside wind and sun, making our infrastructure an instrument for greening natural gas,” said Pascal De Buck, CEO of Fluxys.
Due to the varying availability of other renewable energies like solar and wind, the new project aims to act as a link that could offset that issue and optimise how the gas and power systems complement and reinforce each other.
Green hydrogen can be transported and stored in the existing natural gas infrastructure and in this way reduces the carbon output of natural gas as energy for heating, transport and industry.
Moreover, green hydrogen can also be used as carbon-free energy or feedstock in transport, logistics and industrial processes, for example in the chemical industry.
Hydrogen Investments
Stephan Windels, business unit manager of Eoly said, "Colruyt Group is already investing heavily in hydrogen for logistical and mobility-related applications.
"In addition, it also wants to make its natural gas consumption greener and this cooperation marks a step in this direction."
Eoly was selected in summer 2017 to supply green power to the first public charging station in Flanders.
It started supplying energy to Colruyt in 2013 and has now started to focus on the external market.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Kevin Duggan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
