New hydrogen solutions by Lhyfe, Plug Power and Alstom

Lhyfe and Plug Power have announced a commercial arrangement to develop green hydrogen plants throughout Europe, while Alstom has signed an agreement with Hynamics for hydrogen trains. Plug Power, provider of hydrogen solutions, and Lhyfe, a pioneer producer and supplier of renewable and ecological hydrogen, have announced a partnership to jointly pursue and develop green hydrogen generation plants throughout Europe. The initiative seeks to generate a total hydrogen capacity of 300MW by 2025, and to start the development of a 1GW production site.

The agreement builds upon the working relationship already established between the two companies earlier this year. In that project, Plug Power’s hydrogen electrolyzer technology will provide 1MW of capacity to the world’s first offshore hydrogen production facility, developed by Lhyfe and powered by electricity from a floating wind turbine off the coast of Le Croisic, at SEM-REV, Centrale Nantes’ offshore test site, which will be operational by 2022.

“We’re thrilled to expand our work with Lhyfe, bringing the green hydrogen revolution throughout Europe,” said Andy Marsh, CEO for Plug Power. “The team at Lhyfe have bold ambitions and capabilities that align with our own vision for a decarbonized future, and ability to scale hydrogen infrastructure quickly. In North America, we’ve already built a robust ‘hydrogen highway,’ which includes 165 hydrogen fueling stations and stationary power for businesses and institutions, a success we plan to replicate in Europe.”

“Thanks to this partnership,” said Matthieu Guesné, CEO and founder of Lhyfe, “we will be able to rely on Plug Power’s cutting-edge technology to deploy numerous hydrogen production sites onshore and offshore, in Europe but also in North America, which has particularly important decarbonization needs, in particular to replace the fossil fuel products that are still extracted and consumed on a massive scale.”

Alstom and Hynamics for hydrogen trains

Alstom and Hynamics, the hydrogen subsidiary of the EDF Group, have signed a partnership agreement to optimise the hydrogen refuelling of passenger trains. This collaboration will accelerate the development of hydrogen trains and reduce the time needed to refuel them. The Alstom and Hynamics teams are already carrying out joint modelling, calculation, and simulation work. This work, which notably mobilises the skills and resources of “EDF Lab”, will then be tested from 2022 on the electrolyser test platform at the “EDF Lab Les Renardières”, one of three R&D centres of Électricité de France located in Écuelles (Seine-et-Marne). A hydrogen production station, a compressor up to 450 bars and several storage racks will be mobilised to recreate the filling circuits at real size and to evaluate the behaviour of the equipment under optimal observation conditions. Ultimately, the aim is to define an international refuelling standard that will make it possible to limit the immobilisation of hydrogen-powered trains during refuelling, which is a major issue for both railway companies and passengers, while complying with the regulations and safety rules in force.