Normandy Region Vice President, Mr Hubert Dejean de la Bâtie addressed the latest GenComm Open meeting at the Normandy Regional Council headquarters in Rouen France. Speaking to project partners and key energy stakeholders from throughout the Normandy Region, in the context of the Normandy Council’s new 5-year hydrogen plan, Mr Dejean de la Bâtie emphasised that research projects like GenComm, which is funded by Interreg NorthWest Europe, are more critical than ever before.
Addressing the GenComm Open meeting at the Normandy Region Council Headquarters, Mr Dejean de la Bâtie highlighted the need for scientific research amid the pressures of climate change:
‘‘In the context of today’s increasing environmental pressures surrounding climate change, we need the help of scientists and scientific research more than ever before. In 1987, in the face of a depleting ozone layer, we saw the universal ratification of the Montreal Protocol, which was a landmark global agreement to phase out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting
substances. This agreement was a great success as evidence is showing that the ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering. The effects of climate change are clear for all of the world to see, but so far they have not led to such a global treaty.
Scientific research into alternatives to fossil fuels is more critical than ever, and we are proud that our academic partner here in Rouen, INSA (National Institute of Applied Sciences), is delivering on this need under the banner of the Interreg NorthWest Europe-funded GenComm project, as they lead on the technical analysis of the project’s 3 renewable hydrogen plants.’’
Speaking about the launch of the Council’s Hydrogen Plan, Mr Dejean de la Bâtie added:
“The Normandy Region Council is delighted to announce that it has just launched a €15million 5-year hydrogen plan, which will see the further development of clean hydrogen cars, and the opening of 15 hydrogen-refuelling stations. This plan is a reflection of the region’s energy commitment to hydrogen, and we look forward to a strengthened partnership with the GenComm research project, as we progress the region’s transition to fully renewable energy.”
Isabelle Polaert of INSA Rouen, the French partner responsible for leading on the Technical Analysis of the project’s 3 pilot plants, as well as the Methanation for the bioenergy plant, commented:
“GenComm will enable us to demonstrate that hydrogen from renewables energies is the energy vector of the future. The GenComm partnership enables transnational collaboration, which enriches our research and opens our minds, in turn benefiting the communities we are serving, those of North-West Europe. The partnership with the Normandy Region Council, and associated energy projects in the region, can only advance the country’s transition to fully renewable energy and adoption of renewable hydrogen.”
The € 9.39m GenComm project will validate renewable hydrogen as a viable source for powering heat, electricity and transport, particularly for remote communities, and the development of the project’s ‘Decision Support Tool’ will benefit communities and regions considering the transition to clean hydrogen.
Other speakers at GenComm’s Open Meeting in Rouen included Mathilde Belhache from the Council’s ‘Eas-HyMob’
hydrogen vehicle project, François-Xavier Dumur of Nov&atech, who spoke on the subject of methanation in the
region; and Nicolas Picard from EDF-EN, who explained more about Normandy’s offshore wind farm.
For further information on the GenComm project, visit
http://www.nweurope.eu/gencomm
