Construction of the CEOG Renewable Power Plant (“CEOG”) in French Guiana has begun under the supervision of Ballard Power Systems and Hydrogene de France.
Executive Office of Energy Generation (CEOG) is the world’s first multi-megawatt baseload hydrogen power plant and the world’s biggest green hydrogen storage facility for intermittent renewable electricity sources. The CEOG order also marks the beginning of production of a new generation of megawatt-capacity hydrogen-fueled power generating systems for stationary applications, which will be mass manufactured at the HDF plant in Bordeaux.
According to Ballard, this initiative is part of a multi-staged development agreement between the two companies, which was first disclosed in December 2019 by Ballard. CEOG is the first commercial initiative undertaken by HDF as a result of this arrangement. This is a significant step forward in the application of hydrogen storage and electrical regeneration in conjunction with renewable energy sources. The CEOG project in French Guiana, worth $200 million, will include a solar park, long-term hydrogen storage, short-term battery storage, and fuel cells requested by HDF, all of which will be built on Ballard’s ClearGen® design.
The HDF-designed and developed Renewstable® power plant will provide the equivalent of 10,000 households with 100 percent renewable, stable, and dispatchable electricity at a lower cost than a diesel power plant, while emitting no greenhouse gases, fine particle emissions, noise, or fumes. The power plant will be built in the Netherlands.
Damien Havard, CEO of HDF Energy, stated that the CEOG demonstration indicates that the HDF Renewstable® solution addresses a very wide market, which includes all grids that are currently fueled by fossil fuel power plants. We believe that CEOG, which we are trying to duplicate throughout the world, heralds the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the history of renewable energy.
“Ballard’s leading Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell technology is well-suited for utility power systems such as this, which demand proven durability, dependability, and operational performance in heavy-duty applications,” said Rob Campbell, Chief Commercial Officer at Ballard. “Our stacks are projected to provide cost-effective scaling of energy storage and power regeneration, are optimum for daily cycle of operations, and are entirely zero-emissions in this case due to the utilization of upstream renewable energy,” Mr. Campbell said.
