Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port's Montoir de Bretagne Facility To Be the Site of a Hydrogen Production Unit
Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port is adding a new brick to the structure for the deployment of renewable energy, and is thereby helping to ramp up energy transition in the industrial and port activity zone on the Loire Estuary. In late 2022, Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port issued a call for expressions of interest for the production of hydrogen in the Port Authority area. The Management Board has just chosen Lhyfe to set up a renewable hydrogen industrial production and distribution unit at the Montoir de Bretagne port facility.
By focussing for many years now on the energy sources of tomorrow, Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port is on a trajectory to deliver a new, low-carbon economic model for its activities, which today are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port has sought to offer a solution to accommodate a project designed to promote the development of the hydrogen sector in the Region.
A renewable hydrogen production and distribution unit is to come into being by 2028, on a site located to the north of the multi-bulk terminal. Lhyfe produced the winning proposal following the call for expressions of interest issued on 21st November 2022, whereby real estate located at the heart of industrial and logistical port-based ecosystem, at Montoir de Bretagne, is to be made available to accommodate a project to establish a facility for the industrial production and distribution of renewable and/or low-carbon hydrogen and derived e-fuels.
The 250 MW industrial unit representing an annual output of 30 000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen will contribute to the decarbonization of the whole port and industrial complex and of maritime transportation alike. The project is consistent with the programme of action to develop a low-carbon industrial activity zone (ZIBaC), involving the Loire Estuary Association of Industrial Firms (AILE), Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port, Saint Nazaire Urban Area District Authority, Estuaire et Sillon Community District Authority and Pays de la Loire Regional Authority. A goal and a roadmap have been laid out, with a view to transforming the Loire Estuary Regional Community into a low-carbon energy hub. This important stage arrives just a few months after the announcement of the Take Kair project driven by EDF and its partners, the aim of which is to develop an industrial unit for the production of synthetic, sustainable aviation fuels. These projects confirm the Regional Community’s ambition and the growing momentum behind the development of the future low-carbon energy hub.