The energy transition is at the heart of the fight against the climate emergency, and green hydrogen is one of the solutions for a sustainable future. Here's the story and vision of Louis-Arnaud Péchenart, Senior Consultant at ACE Energie.
I worked in the hydrogen field at Atawey. It was a formative experience for me, as it raised my awareness of environmental issues and the potential of hydrogen. It was also decisive in my subsequent career, enabling me to question the relevance of hydrogen solutions and determine the contexts in which they are best suited.
Today, I'm a senior consultant at ACE Energie. Our main mission is to support our customers in their energy and climate-related challenges, for example in defining a decarbonization strategy or optimizing their energy performance. We also explore regulatory issues, such as the EU-ETS, Europe's carbon allowance market. We help our customers to find the best solutions, for example by putting decarbonized hydrogen solutions in competition with other options such as batteries, biofuels or renewable gas. For example, in the steel industry, we helped a customer determine the best solution for replacing coal, by comparing natural gas and hydrogen. In short, we support our customers on complex issues to accelerate the ecological transition.
My “spider bite” was my growing awareness of climate change during my time at Atawey, thanks in particular to my discussions with the CTO, Pierre-Jean Bonnefond. These discussions enabled me to broaden my vision on these subjects.
What made me want to specialize in climate and energy consulting was the potential of hydrogen, which seemed promising to me, but only for certain uses. Sometimes hydrogen isn't relevant, because there are more competitive alternatives. That's why I'm now working in consulting: I want to identify the best solutions for achieving France's decarbonization objectives.
Time is our enemy. We're in a race against time in the face of global warming. Having more time would enable us to do more, to help more people and companies plan long-term strategies, which would enable us to better manage a complex situation.
Hydrogen is a major issue in France's energy transition policy. Today, all solutions are put into competition in order to determine, in each case, which is the most economically efficient, the one with the lowest environmental impact and the most suitable.
My mantra is to prioritize the use of hydrogen for decarbonization, because some sectors have no real alternative for achieving zero carbon. For example, in the steel industry, there are two possibilities: carbon capture and storage or the use of hydrogen.
If I had to pick just three, I'd say:
At ACE Energie, we take a holistic approach. We look at every opportunity. Our technical expertise and our commitment to the fight against global warming are important to us, and we always approach issues through this prism, which is our corporate identity.
We don't simply promote hydrogen as an alternative, but rather examine the environmental relevance of the available solutions in relation to each other. Our recommendations are and always will be focused on the most relevant decarbonization solutions for our customers' specific needs.
If I were a superhero, I might be Flash in the context of my work. The issue for me is time. To combat climate change, Flash's ability to think fast, run fast, produce fast and work harder would be a good metaphor for my commitment to trying to accelerate the energy transition. I'm working to achieve emission reduction targets within tight timeframes. The more time passes, the more you realize that it really is a race against time.
To conclude, hydrogen is part of a set of energy solutions that are crucial to our future, in order to make a success of the energy transition while taking into account environmental and economic imperatives. I invite all stakeholders to work together to find the best solutions to combat global warming. We must not close doors or rush headlong into solutions. It's important to take the time to identify the challenges and opportunities associated with all solutions, and to be a driving force in this transition.
It's easy to wait and see what others are doing, but it's more difficult and rewarding to see an industrialist take the initiative to adopt a solution because it has proved relevant, even if this means taking risks and being a little ahead of the game.
Every hero has an extraordinary story, and this is even truer for our hydrogen heroes. This is the story of Laurence Grand Clément, founder of Persee and involved in the world of hydrogen for 10 years.
I had a classic career after my studies at X and Insead, with positions of responsibility in major groups in France and abroad. In 2012, I decided to change direction by taking part in the construction of an energy transition laboratory whose mission was to think about energy in a global way, to get away from the silo view by type of energy, in order to bring out new cross-disciplinary and sustainable solutions.
In this laboratory, OPEL, one of the active members, had just put its first H2 vehicle, the Ampera, on the road and, if not bitten by hydrogen, at least put me on the road to this energy for mobility.
As part of this working group, I quickly realised the need to think about hydrogen in a systemic way, and that's when I set up my own company, Persee. I immediately found a customer and funding to support the development of our first TedHy tool, and that's when I really got my feet wet in the world of hydrogen!
My first customer was Enertrag, a manufacturer of electrolysers, which used electrolysis to store energy on its wind farms. In East Germany, they were sometimes obliged to disconnect wind turbines from the grid, which represented a net loss of producibility of around 20%. At the time, they had the technology to produce hydrogen from this surplus wind power, but they had not yet developed any uses for it (offtakers). So they were trying to think about the downstream side of their production, and Persee piloted one of these projects to develop renewable hydrogen from electricity that could not be fed into the electricity grid.
At Persee, we take a systemic approach to the deployment of hydrogen infrastructure. In concrete terms, we help to answer the following questions simultaneously:
Where should hydrogen infrastructures be deployed?
What type(s) of infrastructure (technology, sizing)?
What timing?
What scale of infrastructure (short and medium term)?
The two main difficulties in answering these questions are the constantly changing technological context and the uncertain market.
Our role is to help decision-makers, with our 100% Hydrogen expertise and our ability to model in great detail how hydrogen technologies, hydrogen logistics, etc. work.
I 'fight' against those who seek to perpetuate the carbon status quo, favouring the valuation of existing polluting assets, rather than reinvesting their considerable margins in clean energy solutions, even if they offer more uncertain financial returns. I don't know whether what horrifies me most is the greed or the lack of humanism. I hesitate...
In my opinion, hydrogen is clearly part of the future. But I would like to remind you that we must first work on :
sobriety,
then efficiency,
then renewable energy,
and only then will renewable hydrogen find its place.
What is certain is that a zero-carbon future without hydrogen will be very complicated, and a future without zero-carbon will also be very complicated.
Robin of the seas, I would steal oil and gas revenues at their source and redeploy them as floating pearls of the seas (islands made up of wind turbines and hydrogen production).
Digital innovation is key in the new green hydrogen market. Here is the point of view of Konrad Uebel, CEO of FI Freiberg Institut GmbH and Edgar, a cutting-edge platform utilized by hydrogen refueling station manufacturers to simulate, dimension, and optimize HRS configurations.
Green hydrogen holds a pivotal position in transforming the energy sector towards a future of zero-emission energy supply. Its importance lies in being a reliable, transportable, and affordable energy source with the capability of long-term storage. Moreover, green hydrogen plays a crucial role in industries' decarbonization efforts, heavy-duty mobility applications, and serves as a major component in the future circular economy with zero-emission hydrocarbon cycles.
To fully realize the potential of hydrogen, there are several challenges that demand our attention. First, it is crucial to decrease the system costs (LCOH) by scaling up series production and expanding the installation of cheap renewable energy sources. Second, we need to develop a robust market for green hydrogen trade and usage, including its application in hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) for various mobility solutions. Lastly, evaluating data from pilot plants and simultaneously upscaling projects to MW scale, with the support of public funding in the early market phase, holds immense importance for driving growth in the hydrogen sector.
The hydrogen market is poised for substantial growth, driven by national hydrogen strategies and corresponding legislative boundaries, such as the Clean Vehicle Directive and EU infrastructure regulations. Additionally, the emergence of promising technologies will fuel rising demand for green hydrogen across various sectors, including chemical industry, industry, mobility, and housing. Currently, we witness small, localized hydrogen clusters with decentralized supply and consumption, which will eventually be connected through hydrogen pipelines, creating a global market for supply and distribution networks utilizing ships, pipelines, or rail.
Digital and intelligent tools are imperative in the hydrogen world due to the increasing complexity of future energy systems. The integration of fluctuating renewables and the need for short- and long-term energy storage demand sophisticated planning and operation. Dynamic simulations are essential for accurately modeling and evaluating these complex systems. The application of computational intelligence and powerful computing ensures timely and optimized solutions, leading to faster decision making and implementation as well as resource and cost savings.
Indeed, our product, Edgar, plays a pivotal role in the hydrogen world. Edgar is a cutting-edge platform utilized by hydrogen refueling station (HRS) manufacturers to simulate, dimension, and optimize HRS configurations. Leveraging algorithms, Edgar conducts rapid technical and economic calculations, resulting in the best configuration within a short timeframe. By utilizing predicted consumptions and cost data from our data manager, Edgar provides optimized planning, crucial KPIs, such as hydrogen demand andrefueling times, and a complete TOTEX analysis for customer projects. Additionally, we are excited to introduce Edgar HyPro at the end of September 2023, an upcoming application that will further enhance planning for entire hydrogen process chains.
Every hero has an extraordinary story, and this is even more true of our hydrogen heroes. So here is the story of Flore de Durfort, CEO & Co-founder of Atmen (previously Point Twelve), a SaaS platform that enables goods producers to certify their green production.
I have always been passionate about the energy transition. I studied energy markets and their regulation. And then I spent 10 years working for major electricity and gas producers and resellers, between Europe and the United States.
In this sector, I have always had a strong appetite for new business development and sales. And in 2017, I took a very tech and data turn: before founding Atmen, I was in charge of data monetization for E.ON, in a data team of 80 people.
I worked at the crossroads of the gas, electricity and carbon markets, so all the ingredients were there for me to get into hydrogen!
Right from the start, I was driven by the fact that hydrogen is essential for decarbonizing industry. It has its place in the energy transition, alongside renewable electricity and carbon capture. And industry is going to have to produce, sell and buy certified low-carbon products - without it becoming a gas factory!
With Atmen, we are working to rethink low-carbon certification. Our focus is hydrogen, because it is an extremely interesting practical case for our vision: the automation of certification.
Today, certification is far too archaic!
If we stay with a twentieth-century system, I see two major problems:
- A lot of time and money will be wasted on this. Verifying production, of hydrogen for example, requires a lot of manual data entry by on-site agents and, on top of that, audits which are both costly and less efficient than our continuous, real-time analysis solution (an audit only records a production sample).
On top of that, we are also losing time with the competition that exists today between different labels, and this fragmentation is dangerous. For example, imagine a green hydrogen producer in Spain who wants to export to another European country: right now, not all countries have the same certification system, so other countries don't necessarily "recognize" foreign certifications. That's why at Atmen we offer a digital passport per batch, which can be integrated into national registers as our projects progress. The aim is to automate certification across borders.
- There is a risk that players will lose confidence in less-than-transparent certifications. Today, there are few simple, reliable ways of proving that you are really producing something renewable and green. A lot of public money is being invested, many customers are interested in this subject, and the slightest failure on the part of one player could have an impact on all the others. Our solution is there to maximize the confidence of consumers, the regulator and the producers themselves in the sustainability of what they produce.
My daily battle: evangelism! A lot of people wonder why hydrogen has not taken off yet? Well, we have been talking about it for a long time now, and some people have been disappointed by a few announcements. Every day I bring them factual arguments to say that we have no choice but to turn to hydrogen, that it is not a gadget solution.
And then there are all those who are just starting out with hydrogen and don't yet understand the regulatory issues. We need to explain to them the complexity of the regulations (with the new European regulations on renewable fuels, we are reaching a level never before seen in oil and gas or electricity), the technical complexity of implementation and, above all, the financial impact.
If hydrogen isn't green, it will not be in demand, and it will not be subsidized.
Every customer and every investor convinced that it is now and with us - it gives us tremendous energy. We are in the process of completing a fund-raising round that will enable us to redouble our efforts to get our decarbonized gas and fuel activities off the ground. We are succeeding more and more in making people understand that this certification issue needs to be tackled head-on now, that in 2 years of time it will be too late, and that we need to tackle it in a new way. Awareness is gradually building: customers are asking for it, regulators are asking for it, investors are asking for it... the subject is hot, and we have a solution!
Two things: "Just do it" and "Look for partners whose values are close to your own".
To elaborate a little, I find that the best way to convince is often to do, to take action as quickly as possible. Going fast means working first not necessarily with the "big names", but with partners who share the same values, the same vision and the same "doer" mindset.
Eric Baleviez is the Commercial and Services Director at Safra. After 30 years of experience in urban mobility, first as a user (operator) and then as an electric vehicle manufacturer, Eric decided to join the hydrogen sector at Safra.
Originally, Safra was a bodywork company that gradually shifted towards vehicle renovation. The desire to extend the lifespan of vehicles has been part of the company's DNA since the beginning.
In 2011, the current President, who was then an engineer, Vincent Lemaire, decided to embark on the great adventure of building electric and then hydrogen buses. After an initial Businova, which was very groundbreaking for its time, they switched to "bus start-up" mode to design and build vehicles that meet high standards in terms of safety, performance, equipment, and certification.
Today, they have also integrated Retrofit activity into their range. It was a logical progression to combine their expertise in renovation and hydrogen innovation.
Our first hydrogen Businova was designed by only about ten people! It was the starting point of the great story that we writing now.
Today, there are about 20,000 buses running in France. Among them, 35 run on hydrogen, including 23 from Safra. It's a great source of pride!
Throughout my career, I realized that the way hydrogen vehicles are manufactured and sold needs to be revised to reduce their cost of ownership. A hydrogen vehicle costs more to buy than a diesel vehicle, but in the long run, you can play with technical elements or operating methods to reduce overall costs.
That's how I switched to the manufacturing side.
And then, I fell in love with Safra's story, a French, human-sized company with a strong desire to invigorate our territories. We are actually the only 100% French player since we carry out studies, design, and construction in France (we even use a French fuel cell).
Finally, I work with passionate people of all ages and experiences, which is very stimulating!
When you get into hydrogen, you often face many obstacles, whether they be financial or regulatory, for example, but also mentalities that are still skeptical about this energy vector. It's a daily struggle to move forward, step by step.
I also fight against an aging industrial environment, very routine, and full of historical rules.
With Safra and generally all hydrogen players, we try to shake things up! That's what drives us!
Hydrogen should be part of a mix and combined with other forms of mobility, such as electric, for example. Hydrogen won't solve all problems, but it's an essential key to the ecological transition, yes.
When I see how fast we are moving forward every day at Safra, I am hopeful that we will leave a great legacy of what we are building in 50 years. We have already laid the foundations, and the outlines of the puzzle, now we just have to put the pieces in the middle.
I think hydrogen contributes to addressing the major challenges of our time:
My first piece of advice is to evaluate whether hydrogen is really the right solution for your problem. For example, in passenger transport, it could be the perfect solution if you want to transport more people over longer distances.
My second piece of advice is to think in terms of an ecosystem. For example, if you want to switch to hydrogen and know that your product and service ranges will expand, then take advantage of that by converting other vehicles to hydrogen as well. This could include light utility vehicles. This allows you to use the production station for multiple purposes.
Every hero has an extraordinary story – this is that of Elisabeth Ausimour, President of the Products division at Manitou Group, which added the “hydrogen” string to its bow two years ago.
I am in charge of all products developed by the Group (telehandlers, aerial work platforms, forklifts, loaders...). We naturally have a large diesel range, but we have very strong ambitions for electric and, since two years ago, hydrogen is now also part of our strategy to offer a complete zero-emissions range.
It was our very strong CSR commitments that put us on the hydrogen trail. Under this policy, switching our transmission systems to electric and hydrogen have become priorities for us. We see hydrogen as an incredible opportunity, as this energy carrier offers an answer to two performance issues for our machines and handling vehicles – that of power and range.For me, what is also really interesting with this energy is the systemic approach that can be developed around it. We can be green and virtuous from end to end and act locally. Lhyfe produces green and renewable hydrogen, our customers use it locally and the only vehicle emissions are water! This is how we are working today near the first production site in Bouin with our first prototype hydrogen-powered telehandler.
At Manitou Group, the aim is for over 40% of products sold to be zero emission in 2030. We are already well on our way to achieving our ambition, as in 2022, the share of zero-emission vehicles already accounted for more than 10% of our sales.With hydrogen, we will be focusing in particular on offering relevant solutions to the construction market. As soon as it becomes law to have a certain share of electric vehicles in towns and cities, I can quickly see residents wanting greener and quieter construction sites. The advantage is that, with hydrogen, the combination of power and range will be real strengths for site operators. Personally, I am convinced that hydrogen is the cleanest energy possible! But I still need to convince a lot of people... And we also need to explain that not all uses can be covered by hydrogen. For example, farmers will perhaps turn first to biofuels as it will be difficult to access hydrogen in rural areas at the beginning.
We are fighting a battle against time – we must progress quickly towards this energy transition. We want to be pioneers but the technologies are not always ready and customers aren’t either. It is a real challenge as we are trying to introduce these offerings quickly with all of the hydrogen ecosystem (vehicles + stations + H20), even though the technologies are not market-ready today.
Being a pioneer has been somewhat in our culture since the company was founded 60 years ago. We invented the first masted forklift and then we invented the telehandler. We were also the first Toyota distributors in Europe and we have had a CSR policy for 13 years already, which has won us several awards.
I would make two wishes to make hydrogen more accessible:* For the distribution network to be accessible to all – that is really the challenge if we want to bring green hydrogen to our machines and our clients.* To make the technology cheaper. I know that the CEA is researching the topic but you have to face the fact that today hydrogen is not yet a mass market and the products are expensive even though we would like it to be available to all.
I think that hydrogen is one of the major transformations of our industrial era. A change is taking place that we absolutely must not miss and that is why we are investing enormously. And I am very proud to be writing this new chapter with my teams!
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