Industry, transport, research: the details of the government's hydrogen plan

Industry, heavy transport and research: the government on Tuesday detailed its plan of 7 billion euros over ten years to develop hydrogen on a large scale, which can be used to make certain activities "cleaner".

"Hydrogen is a strategic opportunity to massify and accelerate the decarbonisation of the sectors and activities that are the most difficult to decarbonize, in particular in industry and transport", underlined the Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili.

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Priority to industry 

Barbara Pompili detailed with the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire the intentions of the government, which had already announced to plan on this subject two billion euros in 2021-2022, as part of the recovery plan of a total of 100 Billions of Euro's.

The remaining five billion euros for hydrogen will be allocated in a second step.

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The government's first priority will be to decarbonize industrial uses, while many sectors (refining, chemicals, electronics, agrifood) today use hydrogen of fossil origin, produced with processes that emit high greenhouse gases.

Soon clean hydrogen?

Hydrogen can become "clean" by being produced in particular by electrolysis of water, provided that electricity is used from renewable sources or at the very least low carbon.

France thus intends to use its electricity, which today relies largely on nuclear power, a choice contested by certain defenders of the environment.

The government has set itself a target of 6.5 gigawatts of electrolysers installed in 2030, he said.

A hydrogen plane in 2035? 

The second priority will be to develop a “heavy” mobility offer, that is to say for trucks, trains in non-electrified areas, or even airplanes.

"In 2035 we must have succeeded in having an aircraft (...) neutral in carbon, and hydrogen is probably the most promising option", indicated Bruno Le Maire.

In total, the government is targeting 6 million tonnes of CO2 saved in 2030.

The last part of the plan concerns research, innovation and skills development.

The objective is to generate between 50,000 and 150,000 direct and indirect jobs in France.

"Yes, we will ask for compensation from industrialists and businesses. We are not helping for nothing, we are helping so that there are jobs, factories, industrial relocation ....", Bruno Le Maire insisted. , who spoke to professionals in the sector.

The government has also emphasized the European - and more specifically Franco-German - dimension of the plan.

Germany had already announced its own 9 billion plan devoted to this technology.