Caption of picture above: Front row, from left: MT Aerospace French Guiana Managing Director Michael Gärtner, RMT French Guiana Managing Director Nathalie Gouin, ESA’s Director of Space Transportation Toni Tolker-Nielsen, CNES’s Director of Space Transportation Carine Leveau, CNES’s Director of Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana Philippe Lier
A crucial contract for the Hyguane project was signed in the Jupiter Control
Room at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The contract confirmed the
construction of a 4.5 MWp solar power plant named PV3 (3rd photovoltaic – PV –
field of the Spaceport) a key element in the project to supply low-carbon
hydrogen for the spaceport.
Caption: Signature ceremony in the Jupiter Room at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana
HYGUANE
Hyguane, an acronym that stands for ‘Environmentally Neutral Guyanese
Hydrogen’ is an ambitious project led by the European Space Agency (ESA) with
French space agency CNES and industrial and academic partners to develop a
low-carbon hydrogen ecosystem at the Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Julia Talamoni, energy transition engineer for the Hyguane project, explains,
“The Hyguane project aims to produce low-carbon hydrogen to fuel Ariane 6.
Currently, the hydrogen in use is produced in French Guiana from methanol
steam reforming. This process produces high amounts of carbon and requires
significant external heat and methanol, making the spaceport dependent on
external supply. The Hyguane project is therefore part of a broader initiative to
reduce the carbon footprint of space activities and works towards strengthening
the sovereignty and autonomy of European access to space.” For a low-carbon
water electrolysis of hydrogen, the electricity used needs to come from a
renewable energy source. “The installation of the PV3 solar farm provides a low-
carbon power supply to the water electrolyser, leading to the production of a
“low-carbon molecule”, explains Julia.
The pilot scheme of Hyguane will aim to produce 10 to 15% of Ariane 6 hydrogen
needs per year. Beyond this, the Hyguane ecosystem will provide hydrogen to
fuel heavy vehicles in French Guiana for regional mobility and to produce
energy through hydrogen fuel cells, including electrical back-up of critical
infrastructure systems at Europe’s Spaceport in case of black-out.
HYGUANE Low-carbon hydrogen by 2026.
The Hyguane ecosystem will be completed with the construction of a hydrogen
refuelling station and, pending funding from ESA Member States, a garage to
maintain hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Work has already begun on a water electrolysis plant and a hydrogen
conditioning centre used to compress and prepare the produced hydrogen for
transport, with works on the other elements of the project due to start in 2026.
According to Teddy Peponnet, ESA’s Head of the Hyguane project, “The full
HYGUANE ecosystem will be commissioned by the second half of 2027, signing
the first low-carbon hydrogen-fuelled Ariane 6 ready to fly.”
