Low-carbon hydrogen: developing a solution for the future

To speed up the transition to green energy, we are developing low-carbon hydrogen. Rolled out at scale, it will provide a clean energy source for transport and industry.

Harnessing hydrogen to cut carbon

Hydrogen is already used in a number of industries, including refineries, steelworks, glass, electronic, textiles, fertiliser and aerospace.

To further drive the energy transition, additional applications are emerging to:

Reduce industrial CO₂ emissions. Once produced, hydrogen can be stored and transported as a gas and be used as a primary energy source as fuel for furnaces, engines and turbines, creating water vapour rather than CO₂.
Develop cleaner transport solutions. Hydrogen can be combined with carbon from the atmosphere or industrial fumes to create hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons are considered to be low carbon, as they use carbon already emitted by other industries.
Store renewable energy. The main advantage of hydrogen also lies in its ability to “carry” energy. Certain sources of renewable energy, such as wind or solar, can sometimes generate more energy than required. The surplus can be used to produce hydrogen, which can then be stored and reconverted into electricity using fuel cells when necessary. Hydrogen can therefore also be used as a vessel to store electricity.

Aménagements pour la première usine de production d’hydrogène vert en Vendée

Producing green hydrogen on a large scale

The problem is that hydrogen almost never exists in its pure form: it is usually combined with other chemical elements. Extracting hydrogen requires a lot of energy. A large proportion of hydrogen is currently produced from fossil energy, which releases carbon into the atmosphere. This is why more and more solutions are being developed to implement processes that do not emit CO₂. The challenge is to produce sufficient volumes of renewable low-carbon hydrogen at a reasonable cost.

A central pillar to the energy transition

Many governments have decided to make low-carbon hydrogen central to their energy transition strategy. For example, the European Union seeks to grow the proportion of hydrogen in its energy mix from 2% nowadays to 13% or 14% by 2050, as it aims to pioneer the expansion of the solution.

Leveraging our expertise to develop hydrogen

Our main businesses – Construction, Energy and Concessions – are all affected and engaged in the various stages of the hydrogen value chain.

Production

Under the Hyfinity brand, we have pooled our expertise relating to design-build projects for our clients’ production units, whether they are energy producers or major manufacturers. We are also partners in Genvia, set up by the French Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Schlumberger to upscale high-temperature electrolysis, a promising technology. Moreover, we are preparing Europe’s future clean hydrogen industry that will produce energy at the same cost as fossil fuel within the HyDeal Ambition, launched with around 30 industrial companies.

Storage, transport and distribution

We offer manufacturing groups, energy utilities and states solutions to store clean hydrogen energy through our specialist subsidiaries such as Geostock.

Station de bus à l'hydrogène - Iwatani, Japon

Usage

To help industries bring about the energy transition, we are ideally placed, harnessing our position as an integrator that combines our understanding of industrial processes with our expertise in major fluid and electricity networks. In roads, a great many projects to build green hydrogen distribution stations are being developed. Many trials are under way at our airports to use hydrogen to cut their carbon footprint. In 2021, we gave a major boost to developing hydrogen technology when we launched the largest low-carbon hydrogen investment fund alongside our international partners.

1,300

million tonnes of hydrogen are estimated by Bloomberg to be produced globally by 2050