A new step in favor of energy transition for the Communauté de Communes les Sorgues du Comtat, which has signed a contract with the HYNOE group for the installation of a renewable hydrogen production and distribution station on the territory.
Already strongly involved in sustainable development and ecological transition through its Territory Project and its PCAET, the Communauté de Communes les Sorgues du Comtat has just taken a new step forward by validating on Monday 22 November a memorandum of understanding with the company Hynoé, developer and operator of renewable electricity and hydrogen production solutions.
The Community of Communes of Les Sorgues du Comtat is considering using this green energy for its urban transport network, Sorg’en Bus, as well as for its waste collection vehicles, in order to decarbonize its mobility activities and implement a zero CO2 emission travel policy. This project also offers a decarbonation solution to numerous local transport and logistics companies, and is part of a more global mobility policy aimed at reducing the impact of transport on the environment by achieving a genuine ecological transition in travel.
This is a major asset for the Sorgues du Comtat region because it is both a response to its objectives in terms of ecological transition and also a vector of attractiveness, employment and economic development.
This green hydrogen project will be developed in several phases with the objective of producing at least 400 kg of hydrogen per day by the end of 2024 to power buses, coaches, garbage trucks and heavy vehicles, thus avoiding the emission of the equivalent of 3,000 tons of CO2 per year in the region. Eventually, the size of Hynoé’s facilities should enable it to contribute to covering the future needs of the Avignon urban area, which has more than 500,000 inhabitants. An investment of about € 4 million that will become profitable in an ecosystem logic, provided that several uses are associated (mobility, transport, industry …).
This project was particularly enthusiastically received by the Prefect of Vaucluse, quoting Jules Vernes who wrote in 1874 in “The Mysterious Island”: “I believe that one day, water will be used as a fuel, and that the hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used alone or simultaneously, will provide a source of heat and light inexhaustible and of an intensity that coal could not have […]”. Concluding that it is the first time in Vaucluse that a project of this magnitude will be implemented, the Prefect did not hesitate to highlight the dynamism of our intermunicipality, which, thanks to its ideal strategic position, is thus engaged in a decentralization process of a green energy production, both pioneering and virtuous.
