French companies TotalEnergies, Air Liquide, and VINCI are joining forces with other international companies to launch a fund dedicated to clean hydrogen infrastructure solutions.
With a target of €1.5bn, it will be the world’s largest clean hydrogen infrastucture fund. It has already secured initial commitments of €800mln, the companies announced in a statement.
The fund plans to invest in the entire value chain of renewable and low carbon hydrogen in the most promising regions in the Americas, Asia and Europe.
Supported by public policies and through the use of debt financing, the fund is expected to contribute to the development of hydrogen projects with a total value of about €15bn, the statement said.
As anchor partners, TotalEnergies, Air Liquide, and VINCI Concessions pledged to invest €100mln each.
LOTTE Chemical has confirmed its intention to participate as anchor partner and is the first Asian company to join. North American and European industrial players also intend to join as non-anchor partners, including Groupe ADP, Ballard, EDF, and Schaeffler.
The fund expects to secure further investments from large financial players, with AXA as anchor investor.
“We believe that clean, renewable hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition, and TotalEnergies wants to be a pioneer in its mass production,” said Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies.
”We are currently working on several projects, notably to decarbonize the grey hydrogen used in our European refineries by 2030. We are convinced that a collective effort is needed to kick-start the hydrogen sector and take it to scale.”