The world’s largest fund specifically dedicated to providing clean hydrogen infrastructure solutions is targeting an investment of 1.5 billion euros from Air Liquide, TotalEnergies, VINCI Concessions and a group of international companies.
This partnership has already secured initial commitments of around 800 thousand euros and has as its main objective to accelerate the growth of the clean hydrogen ecosystem through investment in large strategic projects, involving industry and the financial sector.
Some of the companies that will participate in the fund have already been betting on clean hydrogen to promote a more sustainable industry.
On this occasion, Air Liquide and VINCI Concessions are joined by TotalEnergies to become driving partners of the fund for the development of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, through an investment of 100 million euros each.
The investments of the clean hydrogen infrastructure fund will be applied to the entire value chain in key regions of the Americas, Asia, and Europe and will be managed by Hy24, a new company founded between Ardian, a private investment firm, and FiveT Hydrogen, an investment platform to promote clean hydrogen.
In a statement issued by VINCI Concessions, they said, «With strong industry expertise and significant investment potential, the clean hydrogen infrastructure fund will have a unique ability to unlock large-scale projects under development and accelerate the expansion of hydrogen markets. With announced public policy support and some use of debt financing, the fund should be able to contribute to the development of hydrogen projects with a total value of around €15 billion».
The VINCI group has been demonstrating its interest in promoting a sustainable industry through initiatives that have a long-term impact on the airports it manages in more than 100 countries. Xavier Huillard, Chairman and CEO of VINCI, stated that the company «is taking concrete action to support the development of clean energy by mobilizing all its divisions in concessions, construction, and energy, particularly with the aim of actively combating climate change and decarbonizing mobility. With the launch of this investment fund, hand in hand with other major industry leaders, we continue to move forward to make green hydrogen a strong lever to achieve our objectives».
For its part, the Air Liquide group will play a central role by dominating the entire hydrogen value chain: production, liquefaction, storage, and distribution. According to Benoît Potier, chairman, and CEO of Air Liquide, «Hydrogen has become a central element of the energy transition. The time to act is now, not only as independent companies but also by joining forces with governments, other industry groups, and the financial community.
He said, «As Air Liquide, we are already committed to investing approximately 8 billion euros in the low-carbon hydrogen supply chain by 2035. Our goal is to contribute to the development of the entire value chain, from low-carbon hydrogen production to end uses, by investing in the necessary infrastructure with storage and distribution projects. Accelerating hydrogen development is key to mitigating climate change».
TotalEnergies, the third company to lead this fund, seeks to establish itself as a global player in the energy transition and net-zero emissions by 2050. Patrick Pouyanné, the company’s chairman and CEO, said, «We believe that clean, renewable hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition, and TotalEnergies wants to pioneer its mass production».
The clean hydrogen infrastructure fund is expected to start rolling out its initiatives towards the end of 2021. Hydrogen is seen as a key building block to decarbonize the airline industry and, therefore, tackle climate change.
