Centrale Nantes has recently been awarded €2.8 million in CPER financing (French state/regional infrastructure planning and investment program) to establish the GENIUS project, a demonstration platform for the production, storage, and use of green hydrogen.
Launched at the end of 2021, the GENIUS project is directly related to the Pays de la Loire region’s hydrogen plan and is a component of Centrale Nantes’ hydrogen strategy.
Professor Malek Ghanes of the Laboratory of Digital Sciences of Nantes (LS2N) and leader of the Renault Centrale Nantes chair on electric cars is leading the GENIUS effort at Centrale Nantes.
This initiative, which will enhance the school’s (and its laboratories’) knowledge and visibility in the future energy (electric) sector, is completely consistent with the energy transition. The objective is to develop a large-scale test platform for intelligent energy management from renewable sources for transportation (electric vehicles in particular) and stationary applications (buildings, low-voltage networks, etc.).
Given the fact that hydrogen as an energy carrier is still a relatively new technology, the GENIUS project attempts to integrate fuel cell/electrolyser technology with seasonal hydrogen storage to power isolated or non-isolated networks.
Simultaneously, this mode of energy generation (with hydrogen storage) and consumption enables the construction of power systems for transport-related applications that combine production/storage/consumption.
