The sector agrees on many aspects of the revised Strategy, welcoming the focus on national deployment targets, the opening up to production technologies, particularly from biomass, the planning of the deployment of hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure, and the exploration of potential natural hydrogen deposits. On the international side, the sector welcomes export support for French players and solutions, as well as being able to contribute to discussions on the conditions for importing hydrogen and its derivatives after 2030. While most of the value chain and major issues are addressed in this new Strategy, the sector notes the absence of a plan for the decarbonization of isolated or island sites (ZNIs) and stationary applications, a segment for which solutions already exist today.
The sector makes proposals on all aspects and draws attention to certain conditions that must be met: in particular, visibility to be provided on the new financial means necessary for the National Hydrogen Strategy to achieve the objectives defined in the consultation document.
“Three years after its launch, the revision of the National Strategy was necessary to take into account the new challenges it must face, in particular competition on the international scene. The government’s update reinforces the sector’s objectives to be achieved for the production of hydrogen by electrolysis with a consolidated objective of 6.5 GW by 2030 and a milestone of 10 GW by 2035. The latter is a minimum to be achieved if we consider the needs of the industrial sectors estimated thanks to our collections at more than 1,000 kt by this timeframe. But to achieve this trajectory, one of the fundamental points is to provide producers of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen with good visibility on the conditions for developing their projects and in particular, access to electricity available in large quantities and at a competitive cost through long-term contracts and the activation of additional levers. This will make it possible to achieve the deployment objectives of the French electrolysis sector, and in particular to produce synthetic fuels in France to decarbonize the maritime and aviation sectors.” — Philippe Boucly, President of France Hydrogène.
“While the Strategy launched in 2020 has done a lot to develop supply by supporting the production of decarbonized hydrogen and for our industrial champions to install their key equipment factories in the regions, the revised Strategy must now support demand via a dedicated envelope to help customers purchase this equipment. This need is all the more pressing in the road mobility segment, which requires a plan to support the deployment of the first thousands of vehicles but also to ensure a coherent network of charging infrastructure across the national territory. Thus, the objectives linked to the European AFIR regulation for the deployment of charging stations are insufficient and must be raised.” — Valérie Bouillon-Delporte, Co-President of France Hydrogène.
France Hydrogène’s comprehensive response to the consultation is online.
