Low-carbon Hydrogen
EDF is investing in hydrogen to decarbonise the economy.
Convinced of the growth potential of the low-carbon hydrogen market and its importance in the energy transition, the EDF Group is accelerating its development in this field, with the aim of becoming a major European player in the sector, mainly in the industry and mobility segments.
For EDF, electrolytic hydrogen will help to decarbonise both the economy and regions
Hydrogen produced through electrolysis can contribute to the decarbonisation of the two sectors of the economy that emit the most CO2, namely industry and mobility.
Hydrogen is both an energy form and a fuel, and is also a raw material for several industries, such as agri-food, glass, metallurgy, etc.
Today, about 95% of hydrogen is manufactured from fossil fuels. The process is therefore very high in CO2 emissions: to produce 1 kg of hydrogen, 10 kg of CO2 is emitted. However, there is a way to produce hydrogen with no CO2 emissions, namely electrolysis, provided that the electricity used in the process is itself decarbonised! This is the case for 95% of the electricity produced in France by EDF.
By replacing hydrogen produced from fossil fuels with electrolytic hydrogen, France’s total CO2 emissions would be reduced by 1%!
Tomorrow, hydrogen could contribute to the decarbonisation of:
- Transport (which represents 20% of current CO2 emissions) and in particular heavy transport (diesel trains, buses, inland waterway transport, refuse collection vehicles, etc.);
- Industry, by making new processes possible (for example, the replacement of blast furnaces by direct reduction furnaces).
Hydrogen offers considerable energy benefits
In 2015, COP 21 triggered a series of reforms to limit global warming to 2° by 2100. Among these measures, low-carbon hydrogen is a major tool to achieve this objective.
As a follow-up to COP 21, France launched an ambitious "Hydrogen Plan" in June 2018, in view of the considerable energy advantages provided by the lightest of all the chemical elements:
STORAGE
Hydrogen can be produced through electrolysis based on water and electricity, which means that electricity can be stored.
ELECTRICITY
By using it in a fuel cell, hydrogen is transformed into electricity and water, enabling it to be used as a clean fuel for electric vehicles with no emission of pollutants or CO2.
GREEN GAS
It can be injected into the gas network, mixed with methane.
CO2 CAPTURE
Hydrogen can be coupled with CO2 to produce synthetic methane, which can be used as conventional gas; it therefore enables the carbon dioxide released from certain factories to be captured. It can either be reused or stored.The long history of EDF and hydrogen…
The EDF Group’s interest in hydrogen is not new. Through its R&D Division, EDF has developed expertise in the field over many years, both for production and use, particularly within Eifer, a laboratory shared between EDF and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, based in Germany. This expertise materialized in 2019 with the publication by EDF's R & D of the White Paper on Low Carbon Hydrogen published by Lavoisier.
In 2018, EDF consolidated its interest in the emerging low-carbon hydrogen market by acquiring a 21.7% stake in McPhy, a manufacturer and marketer of electrolysers and a player committed to low-carbon hydrogen since its creation in 2008. By also signing an industrial, commercial and research partnership, the two companies aim to create a synergy between McPhy’s technological expertise and EDF’s knowledge of electrical systems and low-carbon electricity production.
HySiLabs, facilitating the transport and storage of hydrogen
Everyone (or almost everyone) knows that as a low-carbon energy source, hydrogen has tremendous potential in the cities of the future. And yet its use is still very limited. The reason for this is its gaseous form, which makes it difficult to transport and store. Far from settling for this inevitability, Vincent Lôme and Pierre-Emmanuel Casanova were at university when they made a discovery that would make it possible to remove this barrier: by transporting hydrogen using a liquid carrier, it can be deployed more easily (and over long distances!), the dangers associated with gas are eliminated and there is no longer any need for high-pressure storage tanks. Thus, after 10 years of R&D, they created HySiLabs, a ground-breaking technology that meets all the challenges of the energy transition … rewarded in 2018 during the 5th edition of the EDF Pulse Awards!
Hynamics by EDF, a new step towards low-carbon hydrogen
On April 2nd 2019, the EDF Group strengthened its commitment to the energy transition by creating Hynamics, a subsidiary developed by EDF Pulse Croissance, the Group’s start-up incubator. With Hynamics, EDF’s ambition is to become a key player in the hydrogen sector in France and around the world. Its aim is to produce and market hydrogen with zero CO₂ emissions to mainly serve two markets:
- industrial clients, for whom hydrogen is a necessity (refinery, glassware, agri-food, chemistry etc.);
- mobility providers, both public and professional, by helping to link up different areas with service stations to provide hydrogen to recharge fleets of commercial vehicles, like trains, buses, utility vehicles and means of waterway transport.
Working with industry and different regions by supporting their decarbonation projects is a challenge that Hynamics plans to embrace with a solution for producing hydrogen without CO₂ emissions with multiple uses and in an economically efficient way. We are focusing in particular on industry and mass mobility, two sections of the economy that produce a lot of CO₂, with a view to nurturing partnerships
The partner of territories & Industrial clients for a production of low-carbon hydrogen.