Inroads of Transition - Renewable energies Vallourec explores new areas of sustainable growth in the field of renewable energies

“For two years now, Vallourec has been committed to the pursuit of renewable energies by exploring five promising segments – geothermal, carbon storage, hydrogen, wind energy and solar energy. This momentum is fueled by our expertise in tubes and related services, our know-how in materials, the quality of our R&D and our global presence. 

This strategy is now being consolidated thanks to our concrete achievements with pilot customers, such as Chesterfield Pressure Cylinders and Neptune Energy in the UK, GreenFireEnergy in the US, and Storengy in France. With them, we have demonstrated the relevance of our solutions under real-life application conditions for stationary hydrogen storage, geothermal energy, carbon storage, and even hydrogen storage in salt caverns. 

We are now ready to take the next steps, particularly to support the future increase in electrical energy needs. This is a new direction which, for Vallourec, means acquiring new skills that go beyond tubes. It is what we aim to do with startup GreenFireEnergy, for example, by contributing to geothermal loop systems with our proprietary THERMOCASE® (Vacuum Insulated Tubing) solution ), and through greater involvement in future projects. 
 
The definition of our strategic direction in the coming years will therefore involve taking on new employees, who will be able to combine their expertise with that of the teams already in place and generate real cultural change. But it will also involve investing and cooperating with different players in the energy sector. This will enable us to create the conditions for real acceleration.”

“Services are a booster of innovation and transformation for the Group. They represent a strong element of differentiation in our traditional business lines. But they are also a fantastic lever for proposing new applications in the field of renewable energies.

Today, for example, one of our objectives is to go further along the value chain with our traditional customers in the oil and gas sectors. They too are devoting ever-more resources to the energy transition. They will therefore need solid and, probably, more wide-ranging partners to accompany them on this journey.

Meanwhile, our range of physical as well as digital services provides a stepping-stone to explore various diversification segments, such as geothermal energy. For this type of application, we are cooperating with Nicolas Moreau’s Energy Transition Opportunities teams to offer turnkey tubular solutions, up to and including installing the product in the subsoil. 

We also have another major advantage in the form of Serimax, the Group’s largest service entity. Its technological, project management and site team deployment capabilities will enable us to respond to demand in the energy transition field that goes well beyond the product.”