How the French company Lhyfe wants to get green hydrogen off the ground in Europe – 20 Minutes

“The development potential is immense”, enthuses Matthieu Guesné, the boss of Lhyfe. In urban transport,
automobile, aviation or even navigation, projects using hydrogen as an energy source are multiplying all over the world. However, the supply of this ultra light gas which emits no CO2 remains relatively expensive and mainly uses hydrogen produced with fossil fuels, what is called “gray hydrogen”. The Nantes company Lhyfe
therefore set out to find a solution to supply large quantities of green hydrogen, that extracted from renewable energies and therefore “100% clean”. This Thursday, she went from theory to practice: the opening of a real production plant in Bouin, on the Vendée coast.

Connected to a wind farm, the site uses electricity from the wind to isolate hydrogen from water pumped from the sea. The water must first be desalinated and purified in large tanks, then it is a electrolyser that separates the elements. The details of the technology having achieved the “feat” of adapting to the intermittence of wind turbines are secretly kept, photographs of the equipment are also prohibited to “protect themselves from competitors”.

“A handful of companies are producing hydrogen around the world. But today we are the only ones able to get out of green hydrogen on an industrial scale. It wasn’t easy. We have invested 10 million euros in this factory, half of which to solve research and development difficulties, ”claims, not a little proud, Matthieu Guesné.

Around thirty factories within five years

Initially, the Vendée plant will produce 300 kg of hydrogen per day. But by the end of 2022, production must increase to one tonne per day. “To give an order of magnitude, the full tank of a car is about 5 kg of hydrogen. With one tonne per day, we supply all the buses and garbage trucks in a city of 50,000 inhabitants. »Matthieu Guesné knows what he is talking about: the city of La Roche-sur-Yon (55,000 inhabitants) is one of his first customers, just like Le Mans. Private carriers and logistics operators, such as Lidl, have also made commitments, as have industrialists seeking to “decarbonize” their activity.

But this is only the first step. Because Lhyfe sees much bigger. About sixty projects are already being studied in France and in nine European countries, where the Nantes company has opened offices. Three new factories, with greater capacity, should be commissioned in Denmark, Germany and Italy in 2022. Around thirty should also follow suit by 2026. “The strategy is to increase the number of production units. as close as possible to renewable energy sources, whether wind turbines, a hydroelectric power station or photovoltaics. We have to stay local, as close as possible to customers, otherwise it would no longer make sense. We want to make hydrogen accessible to as many people as possible, everywhere, at a competitive price, ”announces Matthieu Guesné.

Fundraising of 50 million euros

Seduced, the Ademe, the ecological transition agency, financially supports Lhyfe’s approach. “The Bouin site shows that the coupling between renewable energies and hydrogen production is possible, so it’s really interesting,” says Franck Dumaitre, its regional director. The Pays-de-la-Loire region also believes in it, hard as iron. It intends to facilitate the installation of a green hydrogen production unit in each of its departments. It also provides for the deployment of a line of coaches, a maritime link and a hydrogen TER. “We want to make Pays de la Loire the leading hydrogen region in France,” proclaims Christelle Mor though, president (LR) of the regional council.

To support its growth, Lhyfe also announced Thursday a “fundraising of 50 million euros from SWEN Capital Partners, the Bank of the Territories and its historical partners ”. “This is one of the biggest fundraisers of
Green Tech in the world. This is our trajectory, ”comments the manager of Lyfe, whose workforce should increase from 60 to 140 people within a year. To go faster, and reach private vehicles for example, the network of equipped service stations will have to grow seriously. Barely fifty today distribute hydrogen in France.