Normandy is the leading region producing and consuming hydrogen. This is why it has been working towards setting up a decarbonized hydrogen sector since 2016. Current status and outlook for this territory with high potential.
Decarbonizing industry and heavy mobility
With its chemical and petrochemical industry, Normandy produces a third of French hydrogen and is its leading consumer. Thanks to its network of specialized companies, the region therefore has a solid base of skills in the production, storage and use of this molecule. At the same time, the challenges of decarbonizing its industry are very important. It is for these reasons that the Normandy Region positioned itself very early on to plan the deployment of a new decarbonized hydrogen sector. In parallel with its industry, Normandy is also a region that generates a lot of logistics flows. Haropa Port, a major river-sea port on the Seine axis bringing together the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris, is the fourth largest northern European port in terms of cargo tonnage. Transport is therefore the second main decarbonization sector for the region. The launch of the EAS-HyMob project in 2016 therefore laid the first milestone to begin the development of this new sector from a mobility perspective.
Normandy was the 1re French region to vote on a roadmap defined in consultation with all stakeholders in October 2018, this resulted in the implementation of the Normandy Hydrogen Plan. This plan aims to create a new decarbonized hydrogen sector by focusing its priorities on the decarbonization of industry and heavy mobility (land, river and sea). The Region, in conjunction with the clusters and sectors, has thus put itself in order to offer a unifying framework to promote and support the development of hydrogen uses in the region.
Pioneering territory across the entire value chain
The ecosystem of stakeholders mobilized around the Normandy Hydrogen Plan has made it possible to deploy the first mobility demonstrators. Thus, an operational network of 9 hydrogen stations for light vehicles has been set up with the EAS-HyMob project. The Road project has made it possible to design and test a first refrigerated truck running on hydrogen from 2019. Thanks to the Nomad Car Hydrogen project led by Transdev, a first hydrogen retrofitted coach will be deployed on the Rouen-Evreux express line. The feedback will make it possible to extend this technology to other intercity lines.
The first territorial ecosystems are developing, particularly around Rouen and Le Havre with uses initiated by the deployment of hydrogen buses and garbage trucks (Rouen Vallée Hydrogène and Le Havre Hydrogen projects) and large-scale projects such as the Air Liquide Normand’Hy project, which plans to install a 200 MW electrolyser in the Port-Jérôme industrial zone. The latter, selected within the European framework of the IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest), should be commissioned in 2025 and produce 28,000 tonnes/year of renewable hydrogen.
The development of the sector also relies on the structuring of research and the training offer. On the training side, a diagnosis was carried out in 2018 with the launch of the H2 Académie study led by Caux Seine Agglo, this approach is supplemented by the H2 carbon neutrality project, winner of the government’s AMI “Skills and professions of the future”. On the research and development side, major players such as Arkéma, also selected as part of the PIIEC “Hy2Tech”, are working on composite materials for fuel cells and hydrogen tanks.
Consolidating ecosystems and structuring the hydrogen economy around large-scale projects
TheThe foundations of the sector have been laid over the last 5 years, the objective is now consolidation and especially change of scale to ensure a viable economic model. To achieve this, Normandy is relying on its strengths. The presence of industrial-port hubs located in the lower Seine Valley is one of them. They will constitute the breeding ground for the pooling and massification of uses due to their significant hydrogen needs and will serve as a backbone to structure the hydrogen economy.
The Normandy Region will also rely on interregional collaboration to connect to other territories. It already works closely with the Île-de-France Region. A first joint AMI was launched in 2021 to accelerate the development of river hydrogen applications. The two regions are also launching a joint study this year to develop scenarios for deploying hydrogen in the Seine Valley.
Finally, the mobilization of European funds will make it possible to finance the deployments. The Region is well positioned for this: it co-pilots, with the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Aragon (Spain) and Northern Netherlands Regions, a European partnership bringing together 60 regions: the H2Valleys partnership. The Normandy Region is also a stakeholder in the regional pillar of Hydrogen Europe and Normandy University is a member of the association Hydrogen Europe Research.
