Jean-luc stanek speaks before
the hydrogen committee of the
​national assembly on February 3, 2021
 ... with the challenge of rapid scaling up, in order to anchor know-how and competitiveness in the regions, for this rapidly evolving sector at the global level, where China, Korea and Japan want to impose their leadership. The coming years will be a tipping point for the global hydrogen market, and France must now have a proactive policy in accelerating this change, to preserve its future in the global hydrogen sector, a vector - key to decarbonization.

Weighing in in this global race requires a rapid and strong reaction from France and Europe, with the large-scale development of new competitive MREs towards the critical threshold of hundreds of megawatts, at the level of international competition. This implies an increase in public financial support (as in China, Japan, South Korea, United States), with private / public partnership approaches increasing investment, and supporting initiatives by local authorities towards hydrogen, within the framework of of the energy transition law, to participate in large-scale renewable energy project companies, in order to rapidly massify new uses of hydrogen and bring together players in the international sector. A proactive political impetus with financial support is essential around breakthrough innovations to encourage the emergence of new industrial champions, some of whom have the potential to become “Apple” of green hydrogen.

In connection with the deployment of MRE, real multi-use opportunities demonstrating French excellence would be the implementation of unifying projects based on “hydrogen hubs” to pool the uses of hydrogen on a regional scale, and consolidate the sector ... In this regard, port complexes have the double advantage of having existing industrial needs for hydrogen and new, very immediate and significant ones, in port mobility and logistics-type proximity. They are interconnected to heavy transport networks and urban centers, thus paving the way for the rapid creation of multi-use hydrogen hubs that can also ultimately serve river and maritime uses. Heavy transport axes, exchange basins, Such projects must be based on the assets of the territories, such as maritime EEZs for MRE which are a strategic asset for the EU (19 million km2) and France, holder of the world's leading maritime domain with 11,691,000 km2, ahead of the USA (11,351,000 km2).

HACE is the breakthrough innovation capable of accelerating the rapid and massive deployment of green hydrogen. It is the most competitive energy ( LCOE <20 € / MWh ), and the most carbon-free in the world ( <0.5 geqCO2 / KWh ), to produce the most competitive green hydrogen in the world ( <2 € / Kg H2 ).  The new HACE turbine opens up great opportunities: it was tested in December 2020 at 91% electrical efficiency measured in relation to the measured aeraulic power, with a starting pressure of only 2 mb (2cm water height): any slightly agitated water surface can thus produce clean energy.  The French maritime facades and the overseas departments and territories are naturally predisposed to developing such innovative projects, and are even motivated to welcome them like Brittany and Réunion.  Example of a territorial multi-function port which integrates maritime activities (fishponds, multi-use port, etc.) the production of green hydrogen at sea thanks to wave energy, and the distribution of hydrogen to retrofitted fishing boats, and the hydrogen port supplying the H2 use on land.
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Brittany and Réunion could thus become the first blue fishing fleets in the world. Integration of renewable energies and resilience of networks: hydrogen produced by electrolysis makes it possible to store energy, then release it by converting it back into electricity in response to demand. This increases the operational flexibility and resilience of future energy systems. Hydrogen and fuel cell thus pave the way for low-carbon energy systems, responding to climate challenges by providing flexibility to networks favoring renewable energies.
Valorization of renewables ​
Regions with high renewable energy potential and benefiting from a favorable electricity price can develop ambitious low-carbon hydrogen projects, like Australia, which is setting up investments aimed at both the market and domestic and export of hydrogen. The challenge of national hydrogen development strategies is the development of complete hydrogen systems from upstream to downstream: they support both technology demonstration, its scaling up and cost optimization. . They are therefore both mechanisms for initiating demand and supporting marketing, with a view to facilitating the marketing of new solutions for new uses. ​

The race to develop the hydrogen market is underway: ​

• Japan wants to become the first “hydrogen company” in the world, with the objective of achieving cost parity with gasoline and LNG. This vision sets quantified but also price targets for the development of hydrogen. Japan has invested nearly 1.5 billion euros over six years in R & D to lower the carbon footprint of hydrogen, strengthen import / distribution infrastructure, and develop new uses (mobility, cogeneration, power-to-gas). 

• In China , hydrogen is a priority area included in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) and the “Made in China 2025” initiative. The “China Hydrogen Alliance” brings together all the players in the sector, with strong government support. China is already the world's largest producer of hydrogen, with twenty-two million tonnes per year mainly from hydrocarbons and coal, and intended for chemicals and refining. It is also the world's leading manufacturer of electrolysers, and its hydrogen strategy targets in particular its new uses (transport, energy, alternative raw materials) and the gradual decarbonization of the vector. 

• In South Korea , the government and the private sector will jointly invest more than two billion euros in the hydrogen economy, with mobility as the main axis, to maintain the country's advances in the battery-powered automobile industry. fuel, increasing the production of fuel cell vehicles, and standardizing the manufacture of recharging stations. 

• The United States , pioneers of the hydrogen economy, have encouraged the emergence of world leaders in electrolysers and fuel cells. Their federal R&D efforts, however, experienced a substantial drop from 2008. California remains a major center for the deployment of hydrogen technologies, for mobility and stationary applications. 

• The European Union , bringing together public and industrial authorities, is targeting a total investment of 1.33 billion euros to improve the performance and competitiveness of equipment, as well as the deployment of technologies within the framework of a European Partnership for clean hydrogen.  

• Germany announced on July 18, 2019 funding of 100 million euros per year in the development of hydrogen technologies for the energy transition, with the ambition of making the country "the world number one in hydrogen technologies". 

• In the Netherlands, corporate governments of the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe have drawn up a plan of 2.8 billion euros to transform their region into a “valley of hydrogen”. 

In France , the Energy-Climate law promulgated on November 8, 2019 facilitates and regulates the deployment of hydrogen, paving the way for a legislative and regulatory framework specific to hydrogen, and notably providing for the development of low-carbon hydrogen / ENR and its uses (industrial, energy, mobility); with HACE and its ZEEs, France has the opportunity to aim for a place as the world leader in green hydrogen production.