McPhy wins maintenance job for solar-plus-H2 storage plant in French Guiana

French electrolysers and refueling stations maker McPhy Energy SA (EPA:MCPHY) has won an eight-year maintenance contract from Siemens Energy AG (ETR:ENR) for a hybrid solar-plus-hydrogen project in French Guiana that has been under development for several years now.

McPhy is the provider of a 16-MW Augmented McLyzer electrolyser for the Centrale Electrique de l’Ouest Guyanais (CEOG), otherwise known as the Western Guiana Power Plant, and will now take responsibility for the remote planned and corrective maintenance of the device and the supply of replacement parts and services to the site. The new contract will become effective in 2024.

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The CEOG project was launched by French infrastructure investor Meridiam, Societe Anonyme de la Raffinerie des Antilles (SARA) and Hydrogene de France (HDF). It will combine McPhy’s electrolyser with a solar photovoltaic (PV) park to produce hydrogen, which will then be stored under pressure in tanks. Subsequently, the hydrogen will be recombined with oxygen from the air within fuel cells to produce 24/7 non-polluting electricity.

This technology is referred to as Renewstable by its developer, HDF, and CEOG is the first project of its kind. Construction work at the site was launched in the first half of 2022.

According to HDF, which holds a 10% stake, CEOG represents total funding of EUR 170 million (USD 167.6m) and is the first renewable energy project in the world to have secured a capacity contract with a grid operator, namely EDF.

(EUR 1 = USD 0.986)