On Wednesday, EDF announced a “hydrogen strategy” to become “one of the leaders” in low-carbon hydrogen generation in Europe by 2030, with a “co-financed” expenditure of two to three billion euros.
The organization stated that these initiatives “would be developed and co-financed in the context of industry collaborations and will benefit from national and European support mechanisms.”
EDF plans to use its specialized company Hynamics to extend its low-carbon power generating fleet – nuclear and renewable – to create hydrogen using a water electrolysis technique.
“Three gigawatts (GW) will allow 450,000 tonnes of hydrogen to be produced each year while saving 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. 3 Mt of carbon, which is half of all marine traffic “Alexandre Perra, EDF’s Executive Director of Innovation, Corporate Responsibility, and Strategy, remarked during a press conference that the company is Franco-international.
Mr. Perra said, “We are striving to develop 100% low-carbon hydrogen, which will be the vector for attaining carbon neutrality for the most difficult to decarbonize purposes,” such as heavy transportation.
The majority of the 80 million tonnes of hydrogen generated globally now comes from fossil fuels, particularly gas.
“100% low-carbon hydrogen generation is not science fiction; we already have projects in operation,” said Christelle Rouillé, Hynamics’ general manager.
She remembers in particular the beginnings of hydrogen production in Auxerre for the first five hydrogen-powered buses in the agglomeration.
“We want to expand this first installation, particularly with the coming of hydrogen trains,” she said, adding that hydrogen trains will be arriving in France shortly.
Another collaboration, with the Isère-based cement producer Vicat, intends to make e-methanol for the nautical globe using CO2 exhaled by the cement plant’s smoke and hydrogen produced nearby.
EDF “has 1 GW of projects in the pipeline,” according to Mr. Perra, which is spread out across sixty projects around the world.
EDF also took stock of recently stated intentions to develop renewable energy sources, including solar and wind.
“Last year, the group spent approximately two billion euros in renewable energy,” said Bruno Bensasson, CEO of EDF Renewables, pointing to an “acceleration” in this activity’s growth, which he hopes to maintain. Despite EDF’s “difficult” financial condition.
“In terms of EDF Renewables, we will be able to boost our development and investment spending by about 30%, which is a strong testament to the group’s investment in this field,” he added. -he declares.
The company, which forecasts a drop in performance in 2022, will have to cope with challenges in its nuclear power plant as well as government initiatives to keep electricity rates from rising.
Its gross operating surplus (Ebitda) is expected to fall by more than 26 billion euros in the fiscal year 2022, prompting the State, the company’s largest shareholder, to take control of the portfolio through a capital increase this spring in order to “secure its short and medium-term financing capacity.”
