The Minister Delegate for Industry, Roland Lescure, along with Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, and Agnes Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Energy Transition, propose a joint work program for the new national hydrogen strategy at the General Assembly of France Hydrogène.
Decarbonized hydrogen, a crucial energy vector for the decarbonization of sectors for which there are no alternatives including long-distance transportation, must be used more frequently if the decarbonization of the French economy is to proceed more quickly. When it comes to some of the most significant national sources of emissions, such as the production of steel, cement, fertilizers, long-distance transportation, and aviation activities, only this ground-breaking technology can offer answers for their complete eradication.
The President of the Republic announced the decarbonization goal he had set for industry on November 8 at the Elysée Palace in front of the 50 largest French industrial emitters: to halve the emissions of industry in the next ten years, to enable the achievement of the objective of net zero emissions by 2050. He presented a strategy, the decarbonization of industry planning, and the means: the establishment of “hydrogen hubs” that would supply industrial participants with affordable, low-carbon hydrogen in all key industrial basins.
The President of the Republic requested an update of the national strategy for the development of hydrogen by the end of the first half of 2023 from Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance, Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Energy Transition, and Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate in Charge of Industry.
Roland Lescure, the minister delegate in charge of industry, outlined the main axes of this new approach during the General Assembly of France Hydrogène, the professional association for the French hydrogen industry.
The current energy problem and the new global context must first be integrated into this. It will put forth a strategy for the hydrogen hubs that the President of the Republic has announced. Production will be centralized in these hubs, which will lower prices and encourage the growth of carbon-free economic activity.
The availability of carbon-free electricity for these hubs will also be a problem for this work. Large electrolysers must be able to reach mutually beneficial long-term agreements with electricity providers.
This plan should also include provisions for the management of hydrogen-related machinery, which will enable France to take a leadership position in a rapidly expanding global industry. The ministers will begin work on this strategy in the upcoming weeks with the intention of finishing it in six months.
Recall that France was one of the first developed nations to create a national strategy for hydrogen in 2020 and a hydrogen plan in 2018. An update was required due to the sector’s projects’ exceptional development since 2020.
