NaTran and HyLigh test a 12 m hydrogen airship for methane leak detection on gas pipelines
The remotely piloted HyLighter will fly over up to 1,600 km of pipelines between Nantes and Quimper until 13 November 2026 in a trial campaign.
Gas transmission operator NaTran, the new name of GRTgaz, and the French start-up HyLigh are testing a remotely piloted hydrogen airship to inspect gas pipelines for methane leaks, according to actu.fr actu.fr
actu.fractu.frOpen source ↗. The trials run until 13 November 2026 in the area between Nantes and Quimper. The airship may be seen over Port-Saint-Père, Rezé and Les Sorinières in Loire-Atlantique.
The campaign has been validated with the prefectures concerned. Up to 1,600 km of pipelines will be flown over, and NaTran describes the first tests in the Nantes region as encouraging.
The HyLighter airship
The HyLighter is about 12 m long and flies at an altitude of 20 to 30 m, nearly silently. It is driven by two electric motors powered by hydrogen. Its speed is 10 to 15 km/h, which allows it to cover 100 to 150 km of pipeline per day.
There is no crew on board: the airship is piloted from the ground. It carries a sensor that locates leaks so that they can then be repaired actu.fr
actu.fractu.frOpen source ↗.
Schedule and carbon footprint
Operations start from Nantes and then move on to the rest of the route. The day and time of each pass depend on the weather, because the flight requires stable winds.
According to the press release, the airship could provide this monitoring while sharply reducing the carbon footprint of aerial operations. The release states that the HyLigh solution would emit less than 3 g of CO₂ per kilometre, compared with just over 13 kg of CO₂ per kilometre for a helicopter overflight. These are the companies' own figures, given for a solution that is still in the testing stage.
