Position paper on the role of hydrogen infrastructures. Summary and recommendations

France Hydrogene sets out its vision for the deployment of hydrogen infrastructures and the work that needs to be carried out on the subject with the regulator from 2024 onwards. At a time when the Government is announcing the launch of a mission by the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) on the deployment of hydrogen transport and storage infrastructures, France Hydrogene welcomes this desire to move forward on the subject, and calls for certain points to be clarified regarding the ambition of this work: In the French strategy for energy and climate (SFEC) and the revised National hydrogen strategy (SNH), we plan to draw up a master plan for infrastructures, and in particular to set a quantitative target for storage capacities and their interconnections with basins by 2030 in the regulatory section of the multiannual energy planning (PPE). The development of this shared vision should enable us to optimize the benefits of storage and ensure that infrastructures are correctly sized. More generally, it is on the basis of this visibility that it will be possible to identify the relevant models for regulating and financing these infrastructures. In 2024, work with the Power transmission network (RTE) and the hydrogen industry to develop flexibility offers tailored to the specific economic conditions of hydrogen production. In 2024, launch an extension of joint studies by GRTgaz and RTE - in conjunction with France Hydrogene and associations representing the power grid and electricity sectors - on optimizing the coupling between electricity and hydrogen infrastructures, over shorter time horizons. The aim of this regional planning exercise is to identify how and 'where' the electrolysis brick can help prevent the infrastructure bottleneck encountered in connecting electrolysers and electric renewable energies, at a time when the industry is anticipating a critical stage in the coming years. The details of this reflection are set out in the note