The Dijon Métropole hydrogen project will be financed to the tune of €6.99 million by the European Commission and Caisse des Dépôts.
François Rebsamen is overjoyed to hear that the European Commission and the Caisse des Dépôts have decided to support our hydrogen project, which is being run by Dijon Métropole Smart Energhy, with a subsidy of 6.99 million euros, along with financing from the Banque des Territoires [in the form of a mezzanine loan with participatory interest, Editor’s note] of a similar amount. The city of Dijon “makes the ecological shift, especially in transport,” according to the mayor of that city.
The Dijon Mobility H2 project, managed by Dijon Métropole Smart Energhy, has been chosen as one of five new green transportation initiatives in France by the European Commission and Caisse des Dépôts. “[This decision] highlights the quality, seriousness, and ambition of our hydrogen initiative as well as the everyday ecological policy we pursue in support of environmental preservation and the battle against climate change.” With the help of this grant, two hydrogen stations will be built, eventually enabling the city’s buses and dumpsters to be refueled with fuel that is both environmentally beneficial and locally produced.
For green transportation, more than €70 million
“According to François Rebsamen, Dijon Métropole is continuing its enormous commitment to urban ecology and soft mobility through a very ambitious plan based on the use of hydrogen. This comes after the development of soft modes of transportation (tram, hybrid buses, bicycles), the creation of pedestrian zones, action plans in favor of biodiversity and the preservation of pollinating insects, and the development of the urban heating network. Two hydrogen stations will be erected in 2023 for the first one, powered by short circuits to locally manufacture hydrogen of renewable origin (thanks to waste combustion and an electrolyzer). Buses and trash cans in the city will eventually run on hydrogen, dramatically lowering CO2 emissions (the equivalent of 24 million miles of driving).”
The European Commission will allot more than €37.1 million in grants in total, while the Caisse des Dépôts will provide an additional €33.5 million. In order to build a sustainable transportation infrastructure in Europe, the CEF – Transport – Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (Afif) call for projects that include this operation. According to Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for Transport, “the initiatives will assist the European transport network to stop depending on fossil fuels in keeping with the objectives of the European Green Deal.”
