In the race to decarbonise air transport, hydrogen seems to be gaining ground. a step ahead of the other solutions being consideredincluding electric aircraft. The industrial conditions necessary for the deployment of these aircraft, expected by 2035, are being put in place at an accelerating pace. Airbus, Air Liquide and Vinci Airports have just set another example.
Hydrogen production, storage and supply: these major players in the aviation, hydrogen and airport industries are going to make the Lyon-Saint Exupéry hub their pilot airport for this new technology. From 2023, Lyon-Saint Exupéry will be home to the first facilities, with a hydrogen gas distribution station designed to supply ground vehicles using the airport.
In a second phase, between 2023 and 2030, Vinci's main hub in France will be home to new liquid hydrogen infrastructures to fill the tanks of future aircraft. Last but not least, beyond 2030, facilities will move to the mass production and distribution stage. Also in 2030, the three partners will study the possibility of equipping Vinci Airports' European airport network to receive these future aircraft.
Tomorrow's infrastructure is being prepared today. And Lyon airport is not the only example. In anticipation of this development, Airbus, ADP and Air France-KLM joined forces at the beginning of the year with the Ile-de-France region and its international promotion agency Choose Paris Region to launch a worldwide call for expressions of interest to develop the hydrogen sector at airports.
The 11 winners of the "H2 Hub Airport" competition were announced in May. " The success of this call for expressions of interest testifies to growing interest in hydrogen technologiescommented Augustin de Romanet, CEO of the ADP Group. We are laying the foundations for an ecosystem that will enable the gradual integration of this clean, sustainable energy carrier at Paris airports, eventually transforming them into veritable hydrogen hubs."
The winners include companies specialising in hydrogen production, storage and distribution, such as France's Air Liquide Advanced Technologies, Ecodrome and Geostock, as well as Californian start-up Universal Hydrogen. Founded by former Airbus technology director Paul Eremenko, this young company announced on 20 September that it would soon be setting up in the Toulouse-Blagnac airport zone.
In 2022, its Toulouse development centre, the second largest in the world after the one in Los Angeles, will begin developing conversion kits that will enable regional aircraft to be retrofitted with a hydrogen fuel cell engine, a solution that does not require heavy production infrastructure. The Californian start-up's ambition is to supply propeller-driven aircraft, such as Airbus' ATRs, with hydrogen by 2025. Several airlines - Icelandair, Ravn Alaska and Air Nostrum - have already signed letters of intent with Universal Hydrogen to convert part of their current and future fleets to hydrogen.
If the airline is actively preparing, the horizon is getting even closer in the rail world. In early September, Alstom's Coradia iLint train, the first in the world to be powered by hydrogen, ran for the first time in France, on the tracks of the Centre d'Essais Ferroviaires in Valenciennes. The twelve trainsets ordered by four French regions - Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche Comté, Grand Est and Occitanie - are due to enter service around 2025. This train, which Alstom began planning back in 2013, has also been successfully trialled in Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and, most importantly, Germany, where it is due to be launched in 2022.
