TotalEnergies has announced it is joining forces with global green energy company, Tree Energy Solutions (TES) to study and develop a large-scale production unit in the United States for e-natural gas (e-NG), a synthetic gas produced from renewable hydrogen and CO2.
The project, which is expected to produce 100,000 to 200,000 metric tons of e-NG per year, will be equally owned by the partners and operated by TotalEnergies. This partnership combines TES’ e-NG know-how with TotalEnergies’ expertise in renewable power generation, large-scale project management and natural gas liquefaction.
The e-NG will be produced in two steps:
- To produce renewable hydrogen, a 1 gigawatt (GW) electrolyser will be powered by approximately 2 GW of wind and solar energy supplied by TotalEnergies through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).
- This renewable hydrogen will then be combined with biogenic CO2 to obtain the e-NG.
The resulting e-NG produced can be transported and/or liquefied, then sold like natural gas, using existing infrastructure, and end customers will be able to use it without any adaptation to their facilities.
Stéphane Michel, president, gas, renewables and power at TotalEnergies says: ‘We are pleased to partner with TES to pioneer the development of the e-NG industry…This product presents two significant advantages. First, it does not require any new logistical infrastructure since e-NG and natural gas have the same properties and can therefore be mixed in existing infrastructures. Second, our customers will not have to change their current industrial processes.’
‘The strategic cooperation with TotalEnergies is an important milestone towards large-scale e-NG production. Our purpose and vision are to accelerate the race to zero emissions and the development of hydrogen. The innovative business model developed by TES will help to diversify the European and Asian energy mix, making affordable renewable energy available…Today’s announcement confirms that cooperation among all players is what will make the energy transition possible,’ adds Marco Alverà, CEO of TES.
