Ten winners were awarded prizes in Bordeaux during the 4th annual awards ceremonyes Hydrogénies, the 2023 Hydrogen Trophies, which was held on Wednesday, May 24 at the Palais des Congrès in Bordeaux.
CIt was in the presence of the President of the Aquitaine region, Alain Rousset, with the support of Valorem and the competition partners, that these ten prizes were awarded – eight prizes for projects in thematic categories, a “Coup de cœur” prize for a disruptive project and a special prize awarded to the “Hydrogen Personality of the Year”.
A revealer of hydrogen champions
This prestigious ceremony, which brings together several hundred participants including many elected officials, community representatives, businesses and investors, rewards each year companies, organizations or communities that have carried out a remarkable project in the field of hydrogen. This annual competition is open to all companies and/or groups of companies in the energy sector as well as local authorities active in the energy transition, regardless of size. It allows to promote the teams, achievements and projects implemented in France or in Europe.
The 2023 winners
• Low-carbon or renewable industry prize: awarded to the hydrogen project for sustainable distilleries at the companies BULANE and Jas HENNESSY & Co, in the presence of Nicolas Jerez, president of BULANE and Céline Deligand, project manager for HENNESSY Distilleries.
• Prize for Storage and Valorization of Renewable Energy: awarded to the company HYSILABS for its HydroSil solution project for transporting and storing hydrogen like any conventional liquid in the presence of Pierre-Emmanuel Casanova, founder of HYSILABS.
• Prize for rail, aeronautical, maritime or river mobility: awarded to the Occitanie region for its H2 Hydromer barge project, presented by Corentin Decaestecker, project manager for the Occitanie region’s Maritime Directorate and the companies ALSTOM Hydrogène and Chantier Piriou.
• Land Goods Transport Prize: awarded to the H2 Triporteur project, to the companies VUF Bikes and PRAGMA Industries in the presence of Thomas Chenut, founder and CEO of VUF Bikes and Olivier Hautin, sales and marketing director of PRAGMA Industries.
• Passenger Transport Service Award: awarded to the company SAFRA for its low-carbon mobility project in the presence of Stéphane Prin, directorGeneral Manager of SAFRA and Éric Baleviez, Sales & Services Director of SAFRA.
• PIndustry Decarbonization Prize: awarded to the company DISTRAN France for its H2 Ultra Pro X leak detector project in the presence of Hermann Préchoux, France sales director of DISTRAN.
• Awareness, education and training prize: awarded to the companies Bureau VERITAS, ENSOSP (National School of Firefighter Officers), TotalEnergies and ENGIE, for their risk training project Masshylia H2 Risk Safety Training Academy in the presence of Clément Poutriquet, hydrogen development director at Bureau VERITAS, Lieutenant-Colonel Laurent Lecomte, head of the management and specialty training division at ENSOSP, and Matthieu Lelièvre, Masshylia Asset Manager at TotalEnergies.
• Territorial Transition Prize: awarded to the Saint-Avold Synergie Urban Community (CASAS) for its FILIERE-H2-PTWN territorial energy transition project, in the presence of Salvatore Coscarella, president of the CASAS urban area, Romain Deshaye, Thierry Zimny, professor at the University of Lorraine.
• 2022 Special “Coup de cœur” Prize: awarded to the company TAXIRAIL for the Autonomous Light Train project for small lines, in the presence of Michel Albrand, Associate Managing Director of TAXIRAIL.
Hydrogen Personality of the Year: a highly coveted award
UA special prize was awarded to the “Hydrogen Personality of the Year”, Olivier Savin, founder and president of Blue Spirit Aero (BSA) for his hydrogen-powered electric light aircraft. The prize was presented to him by Philippe Haffner, president of Haffner Energy and former winner of the Hydrogénies in 2019, who insisted on presenting him with an original work of art.
|
3 questions for André Asse, co-founder of Hydrogénies Hydrogen +: What gives credibility to the Hydrogenies trophies? André Asse: The first edition of Hydrogénies was created in 2019 when the government was granting barely 100 million/year to the sector. Today, the trophy allows start-ups to leverage calls for funds and for the development of projects. The quality of these trophies is based first of all on the quality of the jury composed of eminent experts in the sector who volunteer their time to select the best projects. Another aspect of success is that we now receive dozens of applications in advance, carefully prepared by the candidates and ourselves in order to facilitate the work of the experts. Thus, these applications present projects at the cutting edge of the sector and I can tell you that the banks are taking a close interest in them. What are the testimonies of those who received the trophy? A special feature of the Hydrogénies is that former winners support new ones in the spirit of this African proverb: “Alone we go fast, together we go far”. Thus Olivier Savin of Blue Spirit Aero received the trophy for personality of the year from Philippe Haffner, who himself received a trophy in 2019. The founder of Haffner SA, a company that now has 120 employees, indicated that this competition had helped him raise funds and expand. Another former winner, Mathieu Guesné, president of Lhyfe, a company which is currently recruiting one person per week, carried out a remarkable fundraising campaign in the month following his election at the Hydrogénies. Candidates do not receive the trophy by chance and investors know how to recognize the relevance of the jury’s choices. The success of our winners is our reward. In 2023, Olivier Savin, unanimously elected personality of the year, exhibited two weeks later at Le Bourget where he was noticed by President Macron. He is now the winner of the Government’s France 2030 call for projects and therefore benefits from subsidies so that his hydrogen plane can fly in 2026. We awarded an award to Safra for its proposal for a hydrogen bus, new but also retrofitted, and previously to H2Sys, which has since been able to build its PAC plant. What new developments for 2024? We are preparing the 6the edition that will be coupled with the European Energy Transition Conference (AETE) at the end of May 2024 in Dunkirk. Applications will be open at the Hyvolution 2024 trade fair to anyone with an innovative project. Each application file will be checked by the organizers and then presented in its best light so that the jury experts can quickly understand the important points. For information or to register: Hydrogénies.eu. |
|---|
