If the European context is favorable to the deployment of hydrogen, many barriers stand in its way. In a report published in November 2022, the General Inspectorate for the Environment and Sustainable Development (IGEDD) takes stock of the development of the French hydrogen sector and draws up a list of recommendations for public actors to secure its development. .
The national strategy aims to make France the leader in carbon-free hydrogen. This strategy is accompanied by strong support from the State and the regions as well as a certain enthusiasm on the part of innovation and industry players.
The projects to come are nevertheless colossal, in particular at the legislative level and uncertainties persist on the regulatory level as on the evolution of the cost of equipment. Moreover, the outlook for electricity prices remains uncertain, which is problematic when we know that electricity represents at least 75% of the cost of producing hydrogen by electrolysis!
A multiplication of projects, but few actual achievements currently
According to the IGEDD report, “the conditions for a broad development of the uses of hydrogen are not really met”. Indeed, while projects related to hydrogen abound, they are not always realistic and there are currently “a very significant gap between the great ambition of the many projects carried out by the players in the sector and the state of the actual achievements, which are still very modest. »
Economic issues
Whether it concerns industrial projects, hydrogen mobility, or the transport, distribution and storage of hydrogen, the questions concerning the economic balance remain great.
The report highlights several factors to achieve this balance:
- the progressive renunciation of the use of fossil fuels;
- the fall in production costs due to the industrialization of components (which is at the heart of the French strategy);
- the development of renewable and inexpensive electricity production;
- technological breakthroughs and even, eventually, the possibility of transporting cheaply produced hydrogen to suitable areas in Europe.
The issue of risk management
It is well known that hydrogen is a dangerous gas because it is highly explosive and very volatile. Until very recently, it was only used by a limited number of manufacturers, for specific uses and by players with a good command of risk management and prevention issues.
This is one of the major challenges of the democratization of hydrogen: it is imperative to “rapidly improve the awareness and consideration of safety issues by all newcomers to the sector. »
This also presupposes strengthening safety training, continuing research work on this subject, but above all “find ways for a change in regulations that is both well proportioned in relation to the risks and challenges, and to the safety frameworks set in neighboring countries. »
What hydrogen are we talking about?
Hydrogen is qualified by a color according to its production method, in order to distinguish renewable or carbon-free hydrogen from hydrogen produced by steam reforming of natural gas (therefore fossil).
Nevertheless, the notion of “green hydrogen” itself is currently being debated in Europe and European legislation is being negotiated.
Thus, if until now the definition of green hydrogen only concerned hydrogen produced from “new” renewable electricity sources (in order to promote the deployment of renewable energies), hydrogen produced from a mix electricity containing nuclear could soon, subject to conditions, also be considered green, according to the opinion of the European Commission, which would be excellent news for the development of the Hydrogen sector in France.