TotalEnergies and Tree Energy Solutions team up to develop a large-scale e-natural gas production unit in the US

FRENCH energy firm TotalEnergies and Tree Energy Solutions (TES), a Belgian energy start-up, are joining forces to build a US$2bn plant in the US to produce e-natural gas (e-NG), a synthetic gas produced from renewable hydrogen and CO2. 

Expected to produce 100,000–200,000 t/y of e-NG, the project will be equally owned by the partners and operated by TotalEnergies.  

TES, whose green hydrogen model uses solar and wind energy in low-cost areas with abundant sunlight or wind, said the e-NG will be produced in two steps. 

First, renewable hydrogen will be produced via a 1 GW electrolyser powered by approximately 2 GW of wind and solar energy, supplied by TotalEnergies. The hydrogen will then be combined with biogenic CO2 to obtain e-NG, a renewable molecule that is easy to transport and store using existing infrastructure.  

As e-NG and extracted gas have the same properties and can therefore be mixed in existing infrastructures, end customers will be able to use it without any adaptation to their facilities.  

The partners plan to supply the produced e-NG to the US market, and for export to Europe and Asia. 

Stéphane Michel, president of gas, renewables, and power at TotalEnergies said: “We are pleased to partner with TES to pioneer development of the e-NG industry. This synthetic fuel will contribute to the energy transition by helping our customers to decarbonize their activities, notably the ones that are difficult to electrify.” 

The partners expect to reach a final investment decision on the project in 2024, and if it goes ahead, they expect to benefit from tax credits under the US’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Although TES already has a presence in the US, finance experts say the deal highlights how President Joe Biden’s climate bill is drawing clean energy infrastructure investment away from Europe and towards the US. 

Marco Alverà, CEO of TES echoed the sentiment adding that the project testifies to the effectiveness of the IRA in the US as it has “accelerated the project by several years”. But even without the IRA, the US has the best renewable potential when it comes to solar and wind, it has great ease of doing business, and it has available CO₂, and available pipes and liquefaction capacity, Alverà told The Financial Times.