France/French Guiana – Hydrogene de France (HDF Energy), a Ballard Power Systems partner, has started construction of the CEOG Renewable Power Plant (CEOG) in French Guiana.
CEOG is the world’s first multi-megawatt baseload hydrogen power plant, as well as the largest green hydrogen storage facility for intermittent renewable energy sources. CEOG is also the first order for a new generation of megawatt power fuel cell systems for stationary applications, which will be mass built at the HDF factory in Bordeaux.
This project is part of a multi-staged development agreement between Ballard and HDF, which was first disclosed by Ballard in December 2019. Under this deal, CEOG is HDF’s first commercial endeavor. This is a significant demonstration of the utilization of hydrogen storage and electrical regeneration in conjunction with renewable energy. The $200 million CEOG project in French Guiana will include a solar park, long-term hydrogen and short-term battery storage, and HDF-specified fuel cells based on Ballard’s ClearGen architecture.
The HDF-designed and developed Renewstable power station will provide 100 percent renewable, stable, and dispatchable power to the equivalent of 10,000 households at a cheaper cost than a diesel power plant while producing no greenhouse gases, fine particle emissions, noise, or odors.
The two 1.5 MW fuel cell units are expected to be delivered by mid-2023, according to HDF and Ballard. Ballard’s core FCgen-LCS stack technology will be used in the systems.
