How and why France is also focusing on hydrogen to relaunch itself
Also green hydrogen in the French 100 billion euro relaunch plan. The in-depth study by Enrico Martial
There are 7.2 billion euros for green hydrogen, 2 billion of which are directly included in the French recovery plan approved on 3 September by the government led by Jean Castex . They are added to a share of the 3.4 billion planned in a measure for innovation in the ecological transition, partly dedicated to new solutions and application research in the hydrogen sector.
The size of the investment is similar to Germany's: after six months of negotiations between parties and ministries, Germany has provided 9 billion for hydrogen in its 130 billion recovery plan announced in June, before the start of its semester of presidency of the Union. French and German investments together make up a large part of the overall European hydrogen program: 18 billion of the 60 indicated by 2030 for the Union as a whole, as stated in the road map drawn up on 6 February 2019 by the producers of the supply chain together with the European Commission (Joint Undertaken).
The issue of hydrogen is included in one of the approximately seventy measures of the 100 billion “ France Relance ” plan, within the European Recovery Fund , in the pillar dedicated to ecological transition. It starts from the recognition of the technological choice of hydrogen as complementary to others (batteries for example) due to the advantages it presents in energy conservation, for use in some sectors (large ships, heavy transport, industries with productions that require high temperatures), due to the desire to shift generation essentially to renewable energies, hence the definition of “green hydrogen”.
Production processes can be improved (hence the innovation effort) also to lower the price and make it competitive with other energy vehicles. Meanwhile, hydrogen is already more competitive than batteries for heavy transport vehicles over 100 km away. Furthermore, according to the Commission's estimates, hydrogen is already partially used in industrial processes in the chemical sector (ammonia), in refineries and in the steel industry. The goal is to go from 2% of total energy demand in 2015 to 24% in 2050.
There will be effects on technical-scientific skills (with advantages for the country's competitiveness) and on employment (up to 100,000 new employees by 2030). Furthermore, the plan intends to ensure France its own productive sovereignty among the other European countries, I mean Germany too. The idea is to compensate for the difference in competitiveness of the sector – that is, prices – to support the creation of electrolysis plants with direct investments, to encourage research and innovation on the various aspects (storage, fuel cells, electrolysis), to promote its dissemination together with local authorities: it will take at least 88 "large" recharging centers by 2025, out of 750 in Europe, in view of the 3,700 recharging stations in the Union in 2030.
The relaunch plan cites two emblematic cases, one of which concerns Italy, also in partnership with Enel . The first is Atawey , which has so far built 25 charging stations for road transport in France – from Clermont Ferrand to Chambéry to Carcassonne, but also in Switzerland, to Lausanne. Atawey is under national observation for solutions, including hybrid electric and hydrogen charging, as part of the national program of "investments for the future" (PIA), one of the initiatives of the Macron presidency, as part of the "Start up nation" scheme .
The second is McPhy , listed in Paris, which has invested 8 million of its own funds and which is part of the same PIA program : it produces electrolysers in San Miniato in Tuscany, designed and engineered in Wildau in Germany, together with charging stations – with some dedicated to buses – in two locations in France in the Grenoble area.
In recent years, some demonstration projects have paved the way. Alstom of France had built the first two hydrogen trains (Coradia iLint) for Germany, which entered service in September 2018 on a local railway near Bremen. In January 2020, a 22 million euro tender was published for hydrogen trains, while Alstom and SNCF worked with the French regions for bimodal, electric / hydrogen ones. Another € 80 million tender included the construction of 43 road charging stations and 158 new heavy hydrogen transport vehicles.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/come-e-perche-la-francia-punta-anche-sullidrogeno-per-rilanciarsi/ on Sat, 05 Sep 2020 09:35:14 +0000.