The Netherlands is eminently a natural gas country due to the natural gas fields in the province of Groningen and the extensive natural gas grid that supplies various European countries with natural gas. Nevertheless, we have to get rid of the gas and switch to other sources to heat us. What about in other countries? CCS Energie-advies has went across the border to have a look at the situation in France.
A gas revolution? Everything is different in France!
As always, everything in France is different. They do not want to get rid of natural gas at all. In fact, the natural gas network is being cherished as an important piece of infrastructure and there is even talk of the third gas revolution. The first revolution was the replacement of coal by city gas, synthetic gas, made from coal. The second revolution was the transition from city gas to natural gas. Partly due to the assumption that nuclear power would be used on a large scale, the Dutch government wanted to quickly monetize natural gas. Due to the large supply of Dutch natural gas and later Norway and Russia, a widespread European gas network was established in the 1970s.
The third gas revolution
And now the third gas revolution. The transition from natural gas to green gas. In 2030 30% of the gas in the grid must be green and in 2050 even 100%. By saving energy, the total consumption of natural gas must decrease and the remaining need for the heating of houses and transport fuel, is to be provided with green gas, also known as Bio-Méthane or Gaz Vert. Diesel is the new asbestos, especially due to the shoddy operations of the diesel engine industry. That is exactly what France wants. Already the price of diesel is higher than petrol. They encourage consumers to purchase electric passenger cars and the business community to purchase trucks that run on green gas.
Currently, there are 1,200 petrol stations for CNG in France. Ademe (the ministry’s environmental agency) expects that the number of fermentation installations will increase from 800 to more than 5,000 in the coming years.
With this in mind it is possible that in a few years the Netherlands will no longer be Europe’s number one gas country, but will be replaced by France’s green gas supply.
For more information please contact Ruurd van Schaik on +31 (0)570 – 667 000/+31 (0)6 – 2154 8094 or send an e-mail to vanschaik@cocos.nl
About this article
16 April 2018 / Author: Ing. Ruurd van Schaik
