Back up your infrastructure

Client’s needs

The European Space Agency (ESA) has commissioned CNES to manage the Guiana Space Center infrastructures in Kourou. The facility is the largest energy user in French Guiana, accounting for 25 to 30% of the country’s total consumption.

The CNES and ESA would like the Guiana Space Center to actively take part in Guiana’s energy sobriety and transition.

Manufacturing and launching operations at the GSC, however, demand a perfectly stable electrical power supply: each building includes a backup solution combining an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and a fuel generator.

The CNES contacted PowiDian to replace the center’s current backup solution with a hydrogen-based solution in order to reduce CO₂ emissions. This objective is the first step in a more ambitious project: by 2025, the CNES would like the Space Center to produce its own green hydrogen.

Specific challenges

To account for the specific needs of space applications, our teams have modified the SSPAC 100 system’s architecture in order to prevent any power outages in buildings.

In addition, Guiana’s hot and humid climate can be challenging. Local fauna can also disrupt or damage the equipment.

PowiDian solution

To provide the CNES with a bespoke solution, PowiDian teams have transformed the SSPAC 100 to integrate a battery stage and a permanent power supply. The reconfigured system ensures uninterrupted load supply.

The external structure has also been redesigned with CNES environmental experts in order to withstand aggressive weather conditions and damage risks from local fauna.