On November 23, 2021, the new R&D test facilities of the FenHYx platform located in Alfortville (94) were inaugurated in the presence of Pierre Blouet, Director of RICE, Thierry Trouvé, General Manager of GRTgaz and Marie-Eve Perru, Regional Councillor of Ile de France.
In order to accompany the development of the sector and the use of hydrogen, RICE has invested in new technical means to convert natural gas networks into hydrogen networks, grouped together in the FenHYx project.
The inauguration brought together many energy players, committed institutional leaders, GRTgaz and RICE employees... to discover the on-site testing facilities and gain a better understanding of the new issues surrounding hydrogen.
.........................................................................................................Top line: Marie-Eve Perru, Regional Councillor for the Ile de France region and Thierry Trouvé, Managing Director of GRTgaz Bottom line: Tanguy Manchec, Manager of the Hydrogen R&D programme at RICE and Pierre Blouet, Director of RICE
A collaborative project among the pioneers in Europe
Future Energy Network for
HYdrogenand mi
X (FenHYx) aims to carry out research into the measurement of the impact of hydrogen on steel and gas network equipment, under conditions close to real operating conditions. "
Favouring the use of existing gas networks for the transport of hydrogen is the most environmentally friendly, flexible and competitive solution", explains Tanguy Manchec, Hydrogen Manager at RICE.
The result of 3 years of study and reflection, through collaborative workshops to determine the needs of the test program, the FenHYx platform is a unique place in Europe. The project is attracting a number of European operators who share the objective of converting the networks: Fluxys, the Belgian natural gas transmission infrastructure group, for example, is co-financing the tests on the characterization of steels under H2 atmosphere.
Julien Estienne, responsible for FenHYx installations at RICE, presents the Integrity module to visitors with the traction machine
A constrained project that marks the beginning of a great R&D adventure around hydrogen
In addition to the delays caused by the health crisis, the project managers had to deal with supply difficulties before the platform could be built. But the teams have overcome the difficulties and the test schedule is now well back on track. The RICE teams now aim to make the project grow and plan to acquire new test facilities to accelerate research on the injection of hydrogen into the current networks and make the transformation of gas infrastructures possible, in France and on a European scale.
More information about FenHYx in
our article.
Read the press release: in
Englishand
French . 
