Lhyfe
Lhyfe announces progress in green hydrogen projects
Hydrogen producer, Lhyfe, from the city of Nantes, France, started the first production facility into operation in Oct. 2021. Today, the company offers renewable energy solutions, bio-gas, smart grids, and batteries.
Matthieu Guesné, Chairman and CEO, Lhyfe, talked about their achievements during FY 2023. The FY 2023 revenues were at €1.3 million, which is x2, as compared to FY 2022. Lhyfe had the signature of multiple new clients in France and Germany, including Avia, Manitou, Iveco, John Deer, Hypion, Hype, Symbio, Bretetche Hydrogen, etc.
New sites
Two new sites were inaugurated in France (Buléon and Bessières), making Lhyfe the first producer of renewable hydrogen in the country. Eight other sites are currently in construction or extension, mainly in France and Germany, more than any other player in the sector in Europe. We have continued innovation with the world’s first offshore green hydrogen production.
Lhyfe is also boosting the scale-up, with €149m grant from the French government for 100 MW project near Le Havre in France. It has strengthened financing strategy, with a €28m first green corporate syndicated loan, and increase in secured grants at c230 million, as of December 2023.
Bouin, France site is now running at full speed. Factory was completed in 2021, and it is now fully booked. Extension is planned for up to 1 ton of green hydrogen/day. This is representing 2.5MW electrolysis installed capacity after extension. The onsite storage capacity will be extended from 700 kg to 5 tonnes. It is scheduled by end of FY 2024.
This is Lhyfe’s first green hydrogen production site with a current production capacity of up to 300 kg of green hydrogen/day (installed capacity of 0.75 MW). It has direct connection to wind farm, and has secured PPA with Vendée Energie. It is serving mobility clients. Lhyfe has 100 percent success rate in deliveries.
Providing site update on Buléon (France), he said it is located in Brittany (Morbihan, Buléon near Lorient). Site has production capacity up to 2 tonnes of green hydrogen per day (5 MW installed capacity). Lhyfe is addressing mobility (70 percent) and bulk industry (30 percent). Main source of energy is wind PPA with VSB énergies Nouvelles. Client has already been signed. Another site was installed as of end 2023. Commercial ramp-up will start by end of H1-2024.
Bessières (France) site update was next. It is located in Occitany (Bessières near Toulouse Occitany). Production capacity is up to 2 tonnes of green hydrogen per day (5 MW installed capacity). Main source of energy is wind PPA. It is also winner of the Corridor Hydrogen tender for projects. This plant is under commissioning. Commercial ramp-up will start by end of H1-2024.
Lhyfe has several sites under construction in Germany. Tübingen, Germany has up to 200 kg per day (1 MW installed capacity). It is aimed at supplying hydrogen-powered trains on the Pforzheim-Horb-Tübingen line from 2024. Lhyfe signed contract with Deusche Bahn. Unit has been installed and ready for client’s start of operations.
Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany has up to 4 tpd (10 MW installed capacity). It is mostly used for mobility. Construction works was launched at the end 2023. Brake, Germany, has up to 4 tpd (10 MW installed capacity. Site construction had started at end of 2023. It is 100 percent used for bulk.
Sites under construction in France include those in Croixrault and Sorigny. Croixrault has up to 2 tonnes of green hydrogen per day (5 MW of installed electrolysis capacity). It is located on the Mine d’Or industrial area, alongside the A29 motorway. It is the first production unit in the Hauts-de-France region to make renewable hydrogen available to a wide market. It will supply local uses in mobility and industry. Civil works had started early 2024.
Sorigny has up to 2 tonnes of green hydrogen per day (5 MW of installed electrolysis capacity). It is part of Hy’Touraine project. Green hydrogen will be supplied for uses in mobility and industry, with many local authorities and businesses already identified as having hydrogen needs in the area. Civil works started early 2024. In total, Lhyfe will have 10 plants. We are also developing in Spain.
Lhyfe has Fortress pipeline, excluding projects already under construction. Bulk projects are in Wallsend (UK) – 20 MW, HOPE Project (Belgium) – 10 MW, Bussy St-Georges (France) – 5 MW, Vallmoll (Spain) – 15 MW, Duisburg (Germany) – 20 MW, Milan (Italy) – 5 MW, and Le Cheylas (France) – 5 MW.
Onsite projects are in Gonfreville l’Orcher (France) – 100 MW, Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port (France) – 210 MW, Fonderies du Poitou (France) – 100 MW, Epinal (France) – 70 MW, SouthH2Port (Sweden) – 600 MW, Delfzijl (Netherlands) – 200 MW, etc. Backbone projects are in Aaland Island (Finland) – X GW, Lubmin (Germany) – 800 MW, and Perl (Germany) – 70 MW.
Lhyfe has secured €149m grant from French government to support 100 MW project near Le Havre in France. 28,000 m2 available space at the planned site of Gonfreville-l’Orcher. It will produce 100 MW. This confirms Lhyfe’s ability to raise significant subsidies and de-risk large projects. It confirms as well the status as a key player in the renewable hydrogen industry, and know-how and expertise of Lhyfe teams, pioneers in the industry.
The project has been approved by the European Commission as part of the third wave of IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) on hydrogen.
Offshore hydrogen production
Lhyfe is also paving the way for offshore hydrogen production. SEALHYFE pilot is a unique set of data for a concrete step forward in hydrogen offshore development. It is the first offshore hydrogen production unit in the world in 2022. It is producing green hydrogen offshore in the Atlantic Ocean during pilot period from May-Nov. 2023.
Green hydrogen was produced under stressed conditions (corrosion, direct connexion to wind mill, strong accelerations, fully remote operations). Millions of data was collected to support next phase (HOPE project). Reliability of hydrogen offshore production in an isolated environment, and management of the platform’s movements were undertaken. There was validation of production software and algorithms. It was decommissioned end-Nov. 2023.
HOPE or Hydrogen Offshore Production for Europe, was for the first time in the world. Green hydrogen will be produced at sea, and delivered ashore via
a composite pipeline to local customers for use in industry and transport sectors.
Up to 4 tpd of green hydrogen and 10 MW installed capacity. It is located in the North Sea, off the port of Ostend. Operations are expected early 2026. €33m grants awarded, o/w €20m from EU and €13m from Belgian government. This project is coordinated by Lhyfe, and implemented together with eight European partners.
Aland Island, off west coast of Finland, is an autonomous, demilitarized, Swedish-speaking region of Finland. Lhyfe has project to develop large-scale hydrogen production on Åland, integrated with gigawatt scale offshore wind in Åland waters. It is for use on Åland and in the wider European region. Lhyfe has signed MoU with CIP, the world’s largest dedicated fund manager within the greenfield renewable energy investments, and a global leader in offshore wind, green hydrogen.
Lhyfe is well positioned to answer future offshore bids to be launched in Europe from 2024 onward. Another 80 actions will be implemented over the coming years to address the Group’s ESG strategic orientations. Over 80 tonnes green hydrogen has been produced and sold to date.
Looking back at semicon / tech in 2021!
We have finally reached the end of 2021! Let’s have a look at some of the breath-taking moments from the global semiconductor and technology industry during the year.
In January 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci called for remembering Covid-19 lessons at PMWC 2021. I was invited by Dr. Leroy Hood, SVP and Chief Science Officer, Providence St. Joseph Health, Chief Strategy Officer, Co-founder, and Professor, Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), and Co-Program Chair, PMWC 2021. Dr. Fauci was presented the luminary award.
Malcolm Penn, Future Horizons, UK, predicted the global semiconductor market to grow 18 percent in 2021. Scotten Jones, President, IC Knowledge LLC, presented on logic leadership in PPAC era at ISS 2021. AI processors were said to be driving innovations in advanced packaging, as per Jean-Christophe Eloy, CEO and President, Yole Développement. At ISS 2021, semiconductor and equipment recovery were said to be on track for 2021.
Come February 2021, and Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) had a session on memory semiconductors market and technology trends. At SEMI Flex 2021, there was a panel discussion on sustainability and power for batteries. There was a session on electronics for the brain, and another on liquid electronics for stretchable conductors. Next, European 5G Conference 2021 had a session on key drivers for 6G. IHS Markit presented on autonomous sensors and future apps. Erik Collart, Edwards, came up with an enlightening talk on smart manufacturing in More-than-Moore era at the SEMI Technology Unites summit. Embedded computing with image sensors was another.
Dr. Wally Rhines, CEO, Cornami gave his views on why FHE was ultimate for cyber security. Quantum computing is going to be next game changer. At an SIA summit, it was predicted that the global semiconductor industry could be worth trillion dollars by 2036. Elsewhere, in Europe, CEA-Leti has big bets on silicon-based quantum computing. It was announced IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS), will be held virtually in March 2021.
Bill Gates said green premium is metric that says you are on to success in 2050 at CERAWeek by IHS Markit 2021. In March 2021, there was a conference on RISC-V, and how China can reduce risks. Semiconductor outlook 2021 — navigating through turbulent times, came next, by SEMI. At the Technology Week Summit organized by SEMI, SAW/BAW filters, and future materials technology for new filters were discussed, which took me back to my days at Global Sources, Hong Kong, as were technological challenges for MOS HEMT GaN power devices. IRPS 2021 discussed memory’s journey towards future ICT world, and reliability of SiC MOSFETS. SEMI organized a conference on semiconductor outlook 2021 — navigating through turbulent times.
In April, I received shocking news. We lost Shankar Ghosh, or Keshtoda, to Covid-19! He was my guru from my young days. I recall my first ever article, at 14, published by him at Pragati Manjusha, Allahabad. Just a week back, we had lost Bachchu, or Subhash Ghosh, his younger brother. There was another very sad loss of Buluda, or Arun Chakravorty, our brother-in-law and a very close friend, due to Covid-19.
Next, USA started strengthening microelectronics supply chains, and with the CHIPS Act in place, looks well set to do so. The White House said: Resilient American supply chains will revitalize and rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity, maintain America’s competitive edge in research and development, and create well-paying jobs. Also, e-Estonia Digital provided masterplans on mobility.
6G’s chance for semiconductors, and skills for a digitalized Europe were also discussed at the SEMI ISS 2021 conference. Sensors and software were enabling autonomy for urban air mobility at the SEMI MSTC 2021 conference. Rockwell Automation discussed how Industry 4.0 can strengthen India’s pharmaceuticals sector. Cedrik Neike, Siemens, called for Industry 4.0 in silos needs to be brought together. At ISQED 2021, there was a session on the confluence of AI/ML with EDA and software engineering. Yole Développement, France, came up with global technology trends impacting optical transceivers market.
In May 2021, Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM, announced a major breakthrough on world’s first 2nm technology. It was built at the Innovation Lab in Albany, New York fab. At Display Week 2021, there was an engrossing Women in Tech panel on leadership skills. JS Choi, Samsung Display, talked about the metaverse and great future of display. Every display that maximizes immersion is part of the metaverse. Another interesting session was on start-manage-exit option for CEOs. Guillaume Chansin, Director of Display Research, presented on the opportunities in AR/VR for display manufacturers. Next, 6GHz emerged as the new spectrum battleground.
SEMI ASMC 2021 began with continuing Moore’s Law! Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress (CSPC), USA, organized a conference on semiconductor shortage lessons for US innovation leadership. Digital Twin Consortium organized a webinar on how digital twin is making the vision come to life. Experts at INDIAai discussed the race to AI is just beginning.
Come June, and Ericsson UnBoxed Office had a session on the importance of network reliability from telco’s perspective. GSEF 2021 held a panel discussion around the generation and use of data in fab processing. There was the spectrum roadmap for Europe laid out. At the Leti Innovation Days, hardware is back, encapsulates role of microelectronics. At the VLSI Technology & Circuits 2021 conference, there was a panel discussion around new generation chip makers vs. incumbents. Here, Tesla made the first appearance. There was another discussion around 3D/heterogeneous integration: Are we running towards a thermal crisis?
At VLSI Technology & Circuits 2021 conference, Spintronics workshop suggested a gateway to green society. Hexa-X defining blueprint for 6G was hot topic at EuCNC 6G summit. Acellera and Electronic System Design (ESD) Alliance (EDA Alliance) co-hosted a conference on Remote work, remote chip design: Building chips during a pandemic. China Tech Threat’s co-founder, Dr. Roslyn Layton, hosted a virtual panel: Let the Chips Fall at BIS? It was also stated that real men own fabs that can re-invent the future! At the European Commission (EC) conference, there was the inauguration of the EllaLink optical submarine cable linking the European and South American continents.
In July 2021, the Center for the Study of Presidency and Congress (CSPC), USA, and National Security Space Program, organized a session on building space capabilities over the horizon. Cadence Design Systems introduced the Cerebrus intelligent chip explorer to revolutionize intelligent chip design. Elon Musk spoke at MWC21 Barcelona how SpaceX was keen on landing people on Mars. Antler Southeast Asia introduced 14 new startups at its demo day. Asia Tech X Singapore organized a panel discussion on deep tech for global good, at the accelerateHER Asia. There was a panel discussion on planes, trains, automobiles and ships: satcoms-on-the-move.
Islam Salama, VP, Intel, discussed more than Moore and heterogeneous integration through packaging at Global Semiconductor & Electronics Forum (GSEF) 2021. Dr. Wally Rhines presented the strong growth in EDA and trends in semiconductor design ecosystem at the SEMI Innovation for a Transforming World. Marco Chisari, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, presented golden age or short-term cycle for global semiconductor market. There was Ericsson, scaling with 5G and edge computing.
In August 2021, there was a very painful and shocking development. My eldest sister, Ms. Shukla Mukerjee, lost her battle with the dreaded cancer, leaving us extremely distressed. Meanwhile, Ericsson was unlocking potential of 5G for consumers. There was SIA’s session on modern hardware and measurable security. There was a panel discussion on monetizing satellite apps, new business model with innovative use cases in connectivity at the Satcom Industry Association (India) conference.
In September 2021, Vladimir Roznyatovskiy, Lux Research, presented innovations in emergent displays at SEMI, Strategic Materials Conference (SMC) 2021. Role of innovations enabling consumer AR technologies was another. Chuck Byers, Industry IoT Consortium, presented top 10 disruptive new technologies for industrial and IoT networks. SIA had a session on US semiconductor industry facing challenges, and historic opportunities. Xecs Eureka cluster showed support for RD&I in the electronic components and systems. NASA’s flight to Mars via Ingenuity was showcased at Sensors Converge 2021. Lip Bu-Tan, CEO, Cadence, discussed harnessing analytics for electronics industry renaissance. Future Horizons predicted the global semiconductor industry to grow 24.5 percent in 2021. Ms. Taguhi Yeghyan, Market and Technology Analyst, Yole Developpement, presented MEMS and CIS: lithography and bonding equipment market state and outlook, at the Connecting Heterogeneous Systems summit, organized by SEMI Europe.
In October 2021, EMSNow India was launched, carrying my article on how the Indian electronics manufacturing is in a boom period. My blog was featured alongside Forbes and BusinessKorea on China Tech Threat! My thanks to China Tech Threat. SEMI organized a session on challenges in metrology and analysis for next-generation semiconductors.
CASPA, USA, discussed the semiconductor chip shortage, impact, and solutions. Ms. Carlista Redmond, CEO, talked about how RISC-V means an open era of computing! At MEMS & Sensors Executive Congress (MSEC) 2021, iSono Health gave an update on the increasing access to breast cancer screening. European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing (ETP4HPC) organized a session on how EU HPC centres are transforming industries. Yole Developpment, France, organized a conference on supply chain disruption and other MCU market trends.
SIA had a panel discussion on race for semiconductor supremacy: China vs. emerging democratic technology alliance. Indian Space Association (ISpA) was formally launched October 11, 2021. Tech women in space paving way for next generation was organized by Satcom Industry Association (SIA) India. Hydrogen producer, Lhyfe, from city of Nantes, France, started producing green hydrogen for life from seawater. Challenges in metrology and analysis for next-gen semiconductors was discussed at a SEMI conference. Indian Space Association (ISpA) announced its launch.
Following the USA’s Chips for Americas Act, now, Europe also joined the bandwagon with its Chips Act. EU is home to leading global semiconductor research institutions, such as IMEC in Belgium, CEA-Leti in France, and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany. The US Chips Act also calls for the creation of a National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), and an advanced packaging research institute.
SEMI, USA organized the Global Smart Manufacturing Conference 2021, where digital twins and software-defined manufacturing were discussed. SIA, USA organized another conference on catalyzing US semiconductor design ecosystem. This was followed by CAR-SEMI conference on chip shortage impact on automotive. The month closed with the state of AI in Estonia, and Global Semiconductor Alliance event on future of automotive computing: cloud vs. edge. Also, Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) and SIA discussed new trajectories for communication.
My article: It takes pure brains to work in semiconductor industry, generated lot of interest in Nov. 2021. EV World Congress 2021 looked at rEV index accelerating EC adoption. The cities of Madrid and Helsinki continued to ride ahead with e-mobility and EVs. At SEMI, USA conference, the global semiconductor market was predicted to cross $600 billion in 2022. Another session tried to address what’s behind the chip shortages, and what’s driving the current semiconductor markets?
December began with SEMI’s future of computing in 2040. At, Semicon West 2021, there were some interesting sessions. Rick Bergman, AMD, spoke about innovation beyond Moore’s Law: new era in gaming graphics. Kai Beckmann at Merck talked about shaping the future of electronics. VLSIresearch, presented on the state of the semiconductor market in 2022. Nanotronics unveiled the nSpec Turbo inspection tool at Semicon West 2021.
Next, SRC-SIA looked at the new trajectories for memory and storage. DVCon India 2021 looked at whether respins were a fact of life. The year closed out with Leti’s devices workshop in France, which looked at semiconductor solutions to speed up telecom revolution. There was a session on innovative BAW filters for 5G sub-6GHz. How I miss electronic components! I was probably the best editor at Global Sources for electronic components, visiting Shenzhen, Taiwan, etc., multiple times.
There you go! Let us hope that the semiconductor chip shortage will finally go away this year, and the semiconductor industry continues its onward march in 2022. We may get to hear more about FHE in the coming year. Perhaps, Tesla will come up with new factories, pursue energy and software, and grow even bigger.
Lhyfe producing green hydrogen for life from seawater
Hydrogen producer, Lhyfe from the city of Nantes, France, has started the first production facility into operation.
Matthieu Guesné, founder and CEO, Lhyfe, said it was expensive to buy huge quantities hydrogen. Wonderful technologies were coming on to the market, such as Hyundai car with grey hydrogen. Once you have driven this, you would always want to drive a hydrogen car. However, grey hydrogen emissions can be worse than newest diesel engine. There is a need to develop scalable, ecological, green hydrogen.
Lhyfe was created in 2017 to make that possible. The plant was inaugurated on October 1, 2021. The electrolyzer is connected to three windmills. Lhyfe is using three out of eight windmills from the wind farm. These windmills are producing enough power for the electrolyzer. It will do the electrolysis of water. Water is obtained from sea.
The first Lhyfe plant is on the Atlantic coast of France. It gets seawater from the harbor. Water is purified, and electrolyzed. Lhyfe split liquid molecule of the water into two gases — hydrogen and oxygen. It produces one kg of hydrogen and eight kg of oxygen. Hydrogen is purified to be compatible with hydrogen cars. You need high grade, high-quality hydrogen, else, you can pollute. Hydrogen is compressed under high pressure of around 350 bars. Hydrogen is then put on trailers, and pulled by trucks for delivery to customers. Customers are using hydrogen in garbage trucks, cars, etc.
Lhyfe sells 300kg of hydrogen per day. Lhyfe has signed many agreements, which needs them to increase the production of hydrogen. It is very important to have direct connection with the windmill, and connected to the electrical grid of a country, say, France, UK, or Germany. The level of green differs across countries. You can also have green electricity to produce hydrogen. You also don’t have to go through the grid, so, you don’t have grid feed. It makes electricity cheaper. Lhyfe makes hydrogen to make it more sustainable and economical. The motto is to make green hydrogen cheaper and made available everywhere. Lhyfe does the assessment for the right power, via locations. The challenge is to make this available all over the world.
Lhyfe installed a smart software layer to and forsee and forecast all layers of electricity pollution, and manage the storage. It currently has 60 projects running all over Europe. It has one tonne (1,000kg) per day production goal for 2022. It is near a city of 50,000 inhabitants. With lot of plants across countries, they have reached capacity of 10 tons per day. The population is half a million at Nantes. 10 tons of hydrogen can supply all the buses and refuse trucks in the city. Lhyfe is working on mobility for some sites, and for the industry in other sites, such as chemicals and steel. Lhyfe is building production sites in Denmark, Germany, Italy, etc.
For Denmark, Lhyfe was selected by the European Commission to produce hydrogen in large scale. Now, it is switching the model from an industrial scale to a national scale. It will ramp up production from 12MW to 124MW next year. Hydrogen is used extensively in chemical compounds. You have to change the origin of hydrogen from fossil fuel to hydrogen from water and wind. It has Euro 35 million grant from Europe. To develop green hydrogen for all chemical, steel, and heavy-duty industries, Lhyfe needs lot of hydrogen. It is going to produce hydrogen using offshore platforms. Electrolysers will be installed on the offshore platforms. They will be connected to windmills to bring back energy to the shores. It will be delivered to industries and utilities.
Next year, Lhyfe is going to have in France, 20km from the shore, a floating windmill connected to an electrolyzer. Then, it will develop large production centers offshore. Sea absorbs lot of CO2. Seas and oceans are very important for Lhyfe. However, oceans are also getting more acidic and depleted. Lhyfe wants to give back capability to the ocean to absorb CO2 and grow life. Lhyfe had an A series in July 2021 for Euro 50 million. One investor happens to be Swen Capital Partners, France. Lhyfe has put its project at Euro 20 million.
Offshore hydrogen production facility
The world’s first offshore hydrogen production facility, developed by Lhyfe and powered by electricity from a floating wind turbine, will be operational in 2022, off the coast of Le Croisic, at SEM-REV, Centrale Nantes’ offshore test site. Lhyfe and Centrale Nantes share an ambitious goal to make offshore renewable hydrogen a reality, and demonstrated the reliability of an offshore electrolyser.
The electrolyser in Bouin on the French Atlantic coast is directly connected to a wind farm and can produce 300kg of green hydrogen per day. Purified seawater serves as the raw material. The world’s first offshore hydrogen production site, set up by Lhyfe in collaboration with Chantiers de l’Atlantique, will be operational on SEM-REV site, from 2022.
The offshore test site meets all the criteria (MRE presence, harsh environmental conditions) to validate offshore hydrogen production technology, before moving towards large-scale industrial deployment in 2024. This project is supported by the Pays de la Loire Region, the Sea innovation cluster Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, and the Maritime Industry’s Strategic Committee.
Lhyfe is already proving in Bouin, the first site in Europe directly connected to onshore wind turbines to produce its first kilograms. It has an R&D site for offshore hydrogen production. Production of hydrogen from seawater and directly connected to wind turbines was tested and validated from July 2021.
Lhyfe and the Chantiers de l’Atlantique have been working closely since 2020 on the detailed design of an offshore hydrogen production platform that can be built in Saint Nazaire, ranging from 10MW to several hundred MW. The aim is to deploy these concepts as early as 2024.
PRADEEP's TECHPOINTS 