HYDROGEN SECTOR GETS NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK BOOST IN FRANCE

摘要

A new ordinance recently introduced in France will provide the legal certainty necessary to encourage investment in future renewable and low-carbon hydrogen technologies in the country. The ordinance, No.2021-167, dated 17 February 2021 comes at the right time for businesses investigating the potential of hydrogen, such as Renault, which entered into a joint-venture with Plug Power, a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions building the green economy, to explore opportunities for hydrogen solutions in on-road vehicles as part of its commitment to sustainable mobility. Other investors have also started to move capital into hydrogen projects, with the help of the French state. One investment fund dedicated to investing in renewable gas projects, Eiffel Gaz Vert, successfully raised €210 million in commitments last year. France has set the objective of developing low-carbon and renewable hydrogen, and its industrial, energy and transportation uses, with the prospect of reaching around 20-40% of total hydrogen and industrial hydrogen consumption by 2030. France considers that hydrogen could be vital to decarbonisation of the industrial sector, including for heavy transport. To achieve this aim, the French Government has set up a support mechanism applicable to hydrogen produced from renewable energy or by water electrolysis using low-carbon electricity. With the new ordinance, it is already possible to assess the impact of the French legal framework on future hydrogen production business cases, such as power-to-gas, electrolysis and steam reforming, and, as such, on technical choices and electricity supply strategies.