It’s called a happy coincidence. This Wednesday, while the Senate’s Regional Planning and Sustainable Development Committee is delivering its report on Low Emission Zones (ZFE), the largest hydrogen station in Europe is inaugurated at Porte de Saint- Cloud in Paris.
With a distribution capacity of one ton of hydrogen per day intended for vehicles, this station built and operated by the start-up HysetCo far exceeds its “little sisters” already in operation in Île-de-France. Located at Orly, Roissy and Porte de la Chapelle airports, the three stations already managed by the French company can only supply between 200 and 250 kilograms of hydrogen per day.
Energy produced on site
But what takes this new station into a new generation is that the distributed hydrogen is manufactured on site. “The other stations are supplied, in particular, by our shareholder Air Liquide. This new station produces hydrogen itself by electrolysis of water”, explains Loïc Voisin, president of HysetCo, to 20 minutes. For novices, electricity is passed through water to separate the dihydrogen from the oxygen. “The oxygen is returned to the small birds and the dihydrogen, which is more commonly called hydrogen, is used to fuel vehicles,” explains Loïc Voisin.
This new step drastically changes the company’s offer. Whether the future of vehicles is electric or hydrogen, the question of the availability of these two energy sources is often in question. From around 16 tonnes per month, HysetCo’s supply will soon increase to more than 45 tonnes in Île-de-France. Exponential growth for the company, which offered less than 3 tonnes per month just two years ago.
The company targets utilities
This growth is accompanied by another parallel, since the company has its own fleet of vehicles, mainly for the use of taxi drivers: “It is an energy that is particularly suitable for them. But our next target is also utility drivers, such as craftsmen for example”, continues Loïc Voisin who puts forward a solid argument: with hydrogen, it is possible to refuel in five minutes for a real autonomy of 500 to 600 kilometers.
And the start-up does not intend to stop there, since it hopes to install six new stations of the same ilk in Île-de-France by the end of 2024. A sustained development strategy in particular by the Agency for Ecological Transition in Paris (ADEME), the City of Paris, the France Relance plan, the Île-de-France region and the European Commission, which subsidized this new station to the tune of 14 million euros.
HysetCo promises “low carbon” hydrogen
If hydrogen is an energy that does not release CO2 in itself, its production, still 95% from methane, is not. This is why HysetCo is committed to supplying “low carbon” hydrogen, that is to say hydrogen produced from electricity from renewable energies.
The public authorities, behind the financing of the new station, hope to benefit from it in their fight against global warming, as explained by David Belliard, deputy to Anne Hidalgo in charge of transport and mobility, at 20 minutes “We support new engines by offering new infrastructures. Hydrogen seems suitable for heavier vehicles and public transport. The sector is not yet mature, not totally clean, but we see the potential in it to develop a greener sector and thus promote the transition from thermal vehicles to more virtuous technologies. »