Who allies in France for green hydrogen
TotalEnergies, AirLiquide and Vinci have launched a clean hydrogen fund in France. Here are numbers, ambitions and context
French companies TotalEnergies (energy), AirLiquide (industrial gases) and Vinci (engineering) today announced the launch of a fund dedicated to clean hydrogen infrastructure.
THE VALUE OF THE FUND
The fund has been described as the largest in the world among those dedicated to this fuel: it aims to reach an endowment of 1.5 billion euros, and already owns 800 million.
THE COMMENT OF TOTALENERGIES
Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies (formerly Total: the company changed its name to emphasize its transition to new clean energies), said that renewable hydrogen "will play a key role in the energy transition, and TotalEnergies wants to be a pioneer in its mass production ".
GREEN, BLUE AND GRAY HYDROGEN
Green hydrogen is obtained through the electrolysis process of water, using electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Then there are “gray” hydrogen, ie obtained through the combustion of fossil sources and therefore polluting, and “blue” hydrogen, obtained from natural gas but capturing and storing CO2 emissions through specific technologies.
THE ROLE OF HYDROGEN IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION
Hydrogen, in its blue and green colors, is considered a very useful fuel for the purposes of the energy transition, as it does not emit CO2: it can be used both for the decarbonisation of those industries and those transports that are difficult to electrify; and for energy storage, compensating for the intermittency of wind and solar power, which are not constant in output but dependent on the weather.
COSTS
The main obstacle to the use of hydrogen is the high costs, especially for the green electrolysis variety. Producing a kilo of green hydrogen costs between 4 and 8 dollars. Conversely, a kilo of blue hydrogen costs about $ 3.5, while gray hydrogen is even cheaper: $ 1.5 a kilo.
WHAT WILL TOTAL
Pouyanné said TotalEnergies is working on the decarbonisation of the gray hydrogen used in its European refineries: the process will be completed by 2030. The executive said he thinks that "a collective effort is needed to start the hydrogen sector and bring it to the ladder". In France, writes Le Monde , the state has allocated 7 billion euros by 2030 for the development of clean hydrogen.
Among the companies historically focused on oil, such as TotalEnergies, which have increased attention and investments in hydrogen, there is also Eni .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/francia-idrogeno-total-airliquide-vinci/ on Fri, 01 Oct 2021 10:57:24 +0000.