Back to ECCSEL

For Marie Gastine, taking on the role of French Node leader is both a new responsibility and a return to familiar ground. An environmental engineer by training, she was involved in ECCSEL during its preparatory phase and is now back nearly a decade later, at a moment when France’s subsurface expertise is becoming more relevant than ever.

“I’m back on board nearly 10 years after and it’s exciting to see how it has evolved.”

A broader view of the subsurface

Marie’s career at BRGM has followed the underground in many forms: CO₂ storage, geothermal energy, hydrogen storage and other emerging energy uses of the subsurface. That wider perspective fits well with ECCSEL’s evolution, as the infrastructure increasingly connects carbon management with the broader energy transition.

A diverse French node

One of the French node’s clearest strengths, in Marie’s view, is its diversity. France brings together facilities and expertise ranging from capture to storage, but also something less common: a strong mix of public research and industrial participation. The node includes six research institutes and three industrial companies, with BRGM as coordinator.

“We have infrastructures ranging from capture to storage, with recent addition of H2 and geothermal ones… but we also have a strong industrial participation in the node. It’s not only research and universities.”

Above: 3D survey of an underground cavity, using a mobile laser scanner — Photo: BRGM

Why the underground matters

Marie believes the underground is still too often overlooked in energy planning, even though it is essential for technologies like geothermal energy and CO₂ storage. The challenge, she says, is that the subsurface remains both unfamiliar and difficult to communicate: full of opportunity, but also uncertainty.

“The underground is always underestimated, not taken into account when planning energy systems.”

From research to reality

For Marie, research infrastructure should do more than support good science. It should help close the gap between research and deployment. That is especially important underground, where field testing is expensive and difficult, and where demonstrators can make the difference between promising research and real-world application.

“What we most urgently need are demonstrators. It would be nice if our infrastructures would help bridging the gap from research to industrial projects.”

Above: Thermodynamic machinery — Photo: BRGM

Against fragmentation

If there is one theme that runs through vision for ECCSEL, it is the need to reduce fragmentation. She sees ECCSEL not simply as a catalogue of facilities, but as a way to connect people, share infrastructure more effectively and avoid duplication across countries and disciplines.

“The main challenge is fragmentation of research. We put together what we have so that we don’t have to duplicate and benefit from each other’s.”

A European effort

That is also why European collaboration matters so much. Marie coordinated the H2020 ENOS project, advancing onshore CO₂ storage through research, field work and stakeholder engagement across Europe. For her, this kind of shared experience remains essential: in carbon storage, every real example helps move the field forward.

A practical vision for France in ECCSEL

Marie’s vision for the French node is practical and clear: improve visibility, strengthen connections between partners, and make better use of existing infrastructures. In that sense, France’s role in ECCSEL is not just to contribute facilities, but to help turn subsurface knowledge into shared European progress.