The major challenges for the development of the hydrogen sector in France are now widely shared and have made it possible to draw up the roadmap supported by France Hydrogène: scale up hydrogen production, develop uses, revitalize territorial ecosystems, all challenges to be met for which the many players in the sector are mobilizing.
Beyond these major issues, other aspects remain essential to the success and viability of the sector: social acceptability and the availability of hydrogen which underpin responses in terms of safety and reliability of systems and infrastructures are indeed essential!
As an illustration, the PCAET (Territorial Climate-Air-Energy Plan) workshops carried out in the territories collect valuable information from citizens. Consulted on the theme of hydrogen, the public often expresses a favorable opinion of this new energy vector, well perceived as “renewable” energy. However, one of the frequent points of questioning concerns the dangerousness of this energy, and the safety of new systems using hydrogen, particularly for mobility.
Specializing in the field of risk management, APSYS, a subsidiary of the Airbus group, has put its skills at the service of the hydrogen sector in order to provide answers to these questions relating to the security and reliability of the systems which produce, store , transport and use this new energy vector.
As Pierre Sécher, head of development of Hydrogen activities at APSYS, explains, “the mission of our company is twofold:
– on the one hand, securing the hydrogen sector by offering consulting, study, expertise and training services in the areas of security, safety and cybersecurity, but also the environment. Taking into account the sustainability of activities no longer only includes the economic aspect; the impact of CO emissions2 or even climate risk must now be understood by company management;
– the second part of this mission consists of taking these risks into account and optimizing the performance of hydrogen systems and projects, particularly with regard to operational availability. For this, we carry out system engineering services, reliability and maintenance studies in a process of design to cost (for example, how to obtain the best availability of a hydrogen production and distribution installation at a target or acceptable cost). We go beyond technical performance and take into account the human factor, that is to say man in his working environment, from the system design phase.”
Safety, security, sustainability by design
With more than 800 employees and a turnover close to 90 million euros in 2021, APSYS is very present in the aeronautics sector, its original sector.
Airbus’ ambition to develop hydrogen aircraft by 2035 mobilizes numerous resources from APSYS, recognized as the group’s center of excellence on the subjects ” safety, security, sustainability “. The technical challenges imposed by the use of liquefied hydrogen on future aircraft involve rethinking the entire design and rebuilding the safety demonstrations that will allow authorities to issue the future certificate of airworthiness. Carrying out risk and reliability analyzes very early in the design is one of the characteristics from aeronautics that APSYS wishes to take advantage of for numerous industrial projects in the hydrogen sector.
“Our membership in the Airbus group allows us to promote transfers of know-how between industrial sectors,” underlines Pierre Sécher.
Because APSYS has been exporting its expertise for more than 35 years to other industrial sectors.
In the field of mobility, on the one hand, APSYS operates in the railway, automobile and urban transport sectors. For example, the Airbus subsidiary provides its know-how on the cybersecurity issues of the future autonomous train or on studies of industrial risks linked to the adaptation of hydrogen bus depots.
APSYS also intervenes in the field of industry, using hydrogen to make its processes less emitting greenhouse gases. Modifications to industrial units involve updating administrative files relating to ICPE (Installations classified for environmental protection) regulations and reviewing hazard studies, notably Seveso, and environmental impact. APSYS supports operators in completing these files, from the constitution to discussions with the administration.
Finally, APSYS also operates in the field of energy, with producers and transporters of hydrogen, in gaseous or liquefied form, whether large industrial complexes for massive hydrogen production or smaller units. for territorial distribution as close as possible to the end user. Hydrogen availability issues must be understood at the level of the entire supply chain. A break in this chain linked to a breakdown, an accident or a malicious act can have significant economic consequences.
Sustained growth and resource needs
Thus, around this issue of risk management to which more and more attention is being paid, APSYS has the skills to understand industrial systems and processes and propose technical and organizational risk control measures adapted to each sector of the industry. activity and its challenges. Mostly made up of engineers, the teams, which were reinforced by more than 320 people in 2021, are continuing their development. Recruitments are varied in the sector specialties: aeronautics, transport, defense, chemical industry, energy APSYS is looking for expert profiles in risk management, sustainable development or even cybersecurity.
APSYS is also focusing on the digitalization of its businesses with a department dedicated to digital transformation, made up largely of data scientists and experts in artificial intelligence. “The objective is to meet customer expectations with tailor-made digital solutions, but also to transform the profession by benefiting from the advantages of digital combined with the professional expertise acquired over many years,” explains Pierre Sécher. In this area, APSYS has notably developed over the past two years an industrial risk management platform that can be used by a network of industrial installations such as hydrogen production and distribution units.
Present in Toulouse, where the head office is located, but also in Élancourt and Issy-les-Moulineaux for the Paris region, in Marseille, but also in Bordeaux, Nancy and Brest as well as in Germany, England and Spain, APSYS brings its solutions as close as possible to the needs of its customers. In the field of hydrogen, whether they are innovative VSEs or large groups, its customers are located around major industrial basins as well as at the heart of all territorial ecosystems.
In fact, all categories of customers are concerned. Each link constituting this hydrogen chain must be secure to make hydrogen a trusted sector and its performance must be optimized to make it a sustainable sector.
