Air Liquide’s 200MW Normand’Hy green hydrogen project will begin producing first molecules “in the coming weeks,” the firm revealed in an online Q&A following its Q3 financials.
Speaking during the session, Group Vice President Émilie Mouren-Renouard confirmed the expected start of operations and a subsequent “ramp-up.”
Located at Port-Jérôme, France, the project is expected to produce 28,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year using 12 PEM electrolysers built at Air Liquide and Siemens Energy’s joint venture gigafactory in Berlin.
It began construction in 2023 and the first electrolysers were delivered in September last year.
One of the largest projects in Europe, Normand’Hy is set to provide vast support for refining operations, with 50% of its capacity earmarked for TotalEnergies’ Normandy refinery.
Half of the remaining output is expected to go towards meeting refuelling demand along the Seine Axis, while the remaining 25% will go to unspecified industrial customers in the region decarbonising their operations.
Mouren-Renouard highlighted refineries as currently representing a large portion of hydrogen demand. She tabled an “upward trend in [hydrogen] volumes,” and refiners in Europe mostly “running at the maximum capacity.”
Events in the Middle East are also driving “high hydrogen demand,” she added.
Air Liquide has already revealed plans to further supply TotalEnergies’ refining operations through a second 200MW, 23,000 tonne per year green hydrogen plant in the Port of Rotterdam, set to come online in 2027.
TotalEnergies operates six refineries across the European mainland.
The pair are set to launch a 50/50 JV to develop yet another 250MW plant in Zeeland, Netherlands, which could produce up to 30,000 tonnes per year by 2029.
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