Founder of Gaz’Up, Arnaud Bilek discusses the creation of Enerjump, the prospects for the CNG market and the constraints imposed by the new CO2 regulation for heavy vehicles.
Arnaud Bilek, founder of Enerjump (formerly Gaz’Up)
At the start of the year, Gaz’Up announced its name change to Enerjump. After the launch of Watt’Up on electricity, does this illustrate a strategy more oriented towards multi-energy?
Arnaud Bilek: Indeed. Regarding this objective of decarbonization and pollution control, biomethane is very interesting, but we have realized that electricity can fulfill certain missions. And why not also hydrogen tomorrow. This is why we renamed the operating company Enerjump, even if the stations will remain under the name Gaz’Up for gas and hydrogen and Watt’Up for electric.
Despite this name change, do you remain on the same model, namely that the stations are financed by the carriers?
AB: There is even a change in structure. The carriers will ultimately own part of the group and no longer part of their station. We are going to launch an operation with the transporters so that they can acquire a stake in Enerjump, but they will be grouped together in a common holding company. And this joint holding company will own part of the company, that is to say both the project company and all the stations.
This remains a significant change, but one which, given our size and our development project, makes it possible to pool risk and provide visibility to carriers. This does not ultimately change the DNA of the model in the sense that carriers will be able – and this is not an obligation – to take a stake and therefore be integrated into the governance of the network.
In order to continue to strengthen its offering, Enerjump has launched a fundraising operation reserved for TRM and TRV professionals as part of a new development phase called HERACLES. For more information, click here!
The last few months have been marked by the gas crisis, but also by the prospect of European regulations not really favorable to bioNGV. Some operators have chosen to slow down their projects. Is this also the case at Gaz’Up?
AB: At Enerjump, there are always gas projects in development. We are currently in a trough which is above all cyclical and linked to several things. First there is this spillover effect of the gas crisis. This is also the position of gas engines which is not favored by the European Commission even if we see that things are not completely closed. There are still renegotiation clauses and we see that electric, despite all the voluntarism, will be limited to certain activities and vehicle segments. In the end, we are not immune to a change of heart and the European Commission could realize that it is not necessarily a good calculation to put all its eggs in one basket.
The third part is Franco-French. We have a rather paradoxical situation in France with private players, transporters, station developers and energy companies who have really grasped the challenge of biomethane and invested massively. Alongside this, we have an administration which is absent and which takes far too long to translate European directives, but also to provide stakeholders with a regulatory and fiscal framework which is clear and stable.
On the Enerjump side, the projects have not yet been stopped. We have a Gaz’Up station which will open in Compans in June. There will be more stations to come. With the drop in gas prices, we are now talking again about growth and fleet renewal. We are in the process of securing certain projects and we will probably have four stations opening in 2025. A priori, it will be one GNLC for three bioCNGs.
Exactly, Gaz’Up has chosen in 2023 to switch to a 100% bioCNG offer?
AB: Indeed. Since November 1, 2023, everything we buy in network gas is of renewable origin via guarantees of origin with a Bureau Veritas certification process.
This therefore represents 100% of our network gas, but there is also LNG here. So this means that if we take the network as a whole, our incorporation rate is around 40 because we have a little more LNG than CNG in supply. The objective is to increase to 100% by 2030. This will require greening LNG, but we are already 100% organic on network gas.
We know that operators are increasingly interested in bioLNG. Gaz’Up was a pioneer in 2021, announcing a program called Bourgogne BioGNL. Where are we today?
AB: Our project, Bourgogne BioGNL (BBG) fell through due, once again, to a lack of answers and positions taken by the administration.
Despite this, I think that bioLNG will eventually become a reality with implementation taking place in 2025 or 2026. We abandoned our BBG project but have formed partnerships with other players such as Sublime Energy to make bioLNG on the farm or from farm gas not connected to the network, since there is a decree in preparation which will allow you to benefit from the feed-in tariff for biomethane not connected under certain conditions.
In the meantime, we are working with our customers on a private certification which allows, including for LNG-powered transporters, to be able to claim CO₂ reductions linked to the use of biomethane on the network. It’s a stopgap that will allow us to go until 2025-2026. Afterwards, we hope that the regulations and our agreements will make it possible to take over with physical bioLNG.
The other subject that interests transporters is the Price of CNG at the pump. How do you anticipate market developments and construct your offers?
AB: At Enerjump, we really work on long-term partnerships with transporters. 80% of our contracts are for committed volumes. As we saw with the gas crisis, embarking on the energy transition is not just about changing a truck and buying another fuel. If carriers and their customers really want to operate safely in the long term, it takes a bit of thought. This is not done by buying gas at the spot price every four mornings.
Today, the price is generally falling and we advise our customers to freeze their price or part of their price for 2024-2025 and 2026, because we know that the energy context will still be disrupted for a few years. For the carrier, there is therefore less risk of making a good move or going wrong depending on the spot price.
Price indexed to the PEG or fixed rate… the customer therefore has the choice. Can he also do a mix of the two?
AB: Yes, with us, it’s à la carte. With a carrier, there are customers where prices are indexed to gas and others where this is not the case. On a purchasing portfolio, a carrier can therefore have different contracts with different prices, so as to be able to best manage its risk. The advantage is that this trading offer is not reserved only for large consumers. We also do it for the smallest customers!
A market point organized on May 23
To better inform transporters, Enerjump regularly organizes market briefings aimed at deciphering the latest news on the gas, LNG, oil and electricity market. The next webinar will take place on Thursday May 23 at 11:00 a.m. It will be moderated by Alex Werner, Director of the energy and certifications division at Enerjump.
We talked about hydrogen at the start of the interview. Are there any concrete projects at Enerjump?
AB: Hydrogen is something that we see as a possible long-term development. If this technology ends up being mature, we say that it could become a later stage of development for our NGV stations.
Today, we are working on both hydrogen pilots and processes that would eventually make it possible to transform our network-connected bioNGV stations into lower-cost hydrogen stations. For us, it’s almost R&D. But the big issue with hydrogen is its greening, just like gas.
How do you anticipate the CNG market in the coming years?
AB: The perspectives we have, particularly on taxation, should give a real renewed interest in the organic component. Even though it has gone through a somewhat complicated period, CNG remains an energy well established in the transport landscape. Today, there is not a large carrier in France that does not have gas, even if it is not the majority of its fleet. We also have a network of public stations which is now very dense and which continues to become more dense both in France and in the rest of Europe.
In summary, progression, development and further development of CNG is expected. We therefore continue to develop fleets, develop stations and secure organic products. Our analysis is that the right combo is biomethane elect. Because it is the combo that allows decarbonization in a massive, sustainable and efficient way.
Gaz’UP’s cooperative structure aims to make the NGV market more competitive to promote the use of Bio NGV in France and to develop short circuit production of Bio NGV.
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