Published the 01/10/2021
Nantes, 1 October 2021. This Thursday, Lhyfe, a world pioneer and pure player in renewable green hydrogen, inaugurated its first production site in Bouin (Vendée). It is the first in the world to produce renewable green hydrogen using wind power on an industrial scale, and this the first of many such sites to come, since Lhyfe has already confirmed some sixty or so projects throughout Europe.
To support this rapid growth, Lhyfe raised funds for the second time in its history, securing 50 million euros in a Series A financing round and welcoming SWEN Capital Partners and Banque des Territoires onboard alongside its original investors.
The funds raised will go towards supporting Lhyfe’s development in France and abroad, through the strengthening of its teams and the funding of R&D and new projects.
Lhyfe, a pure player in ecological hydrogen with global ambitions, produces and supplies green and renewable hydrogen for mobility and industry. Its production sites will at last provide access to ecological hydrogen (real carbon-free hydrogen) in industrial quantities and make it possible to shift to an energy model geared towards environmentally friendlessness and local – rather than centralized – production, while offering extremely competitive prices compared to fossil solutions. Those who really want to abandon fossil fuels now finally can.
Lhyfe and its partners inaugurate the Bouin production site: a major technical achievment and a world first
A few metres from the ocean in Port-du-Bec in Vendée, Lhyfe is now producing the first renewable green hydrogen in the world made using an electrolyser powered directly by wind turbines, and in industrial quantities (up to a tonne a day) – which represents a major technical achievement.
The site currently produces 300 kilograms a day, but will ramp up to a tonne a day in the coming months. Lhyfe’s hydrogen will supply four refuelling stations in western France including La Roche-sur-Yon, which will be operational in the next few days. Some fifty or so heavy vehicles, buses and refuse collectors will be powered by renewable green hydrogen in Loire-Atlantique, Sarthe, and Vendée at first, then in other French departments, under the VHyGO project in particular.
In addition to communities, Lhyfe will soon reveal the names of other operators that it will be supplying, in sectors such haulage, logistics and industry, which are also seizing the real decarbonization opportunity that its hydrogen offers.
Capitalizing on the know-how developed for the construction and commissioning of this first industrial site, Lhyfe is duplicating this site and, in parallel, deploying facilities with larger-scale production capacity to meet local needs (up to 100 times higher capacity in Denmark).
Lhyfe’s first R&D centre, adjacent to the production site, is dedicated primarily to optimizing its production process and to offshore development work. It is already prepared to produce hydrogen at sea, through a first renewable hydrogen production demonstrator that will be implemented in a few months off the coast of Loire-Atlantique.
This site was co-financed by the Urban Community of Challans-Gois, the Region of Pays de Loire and Bpifrance, and built jointly with local stakeholders from the Vendée department.
A year after laying the foundation stone, we are extremely proud to be launching this site, which is symbolic of course for us, but also for what it represents for energy transition. Our gratitude goes to our five initial partners, who have made this “mad” project to change our energy model possible. Now we have succeeded this first step, we are ready to move faster.
Matthieu Guesné, CEO and founder of LHyfe.
Lhyfe raises €50 million to support its development and welcomes two new financial partners onboard
This second €50 million fundraising round, from SWEN Capital Partners, Banque des Territoires and its original partners, will allow Lhyfe to put €30 million into strengthening its deployment and R&D teams, in France and abroad. Lhyfe currently employees 60 staff and shall double this figure during 2022.
The company already has teams in France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and Portugal. These will be joined in the coming weeks by new teams in Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.
On the R&D front, production from offshore wind turbines will be accelerated, with the implementation of the first hydrogen production demonstrator at sea, at the SEM-REV offshore pilot site, off the coast of Le Croisic from 2022, and the development of new projects.
Twenty million euros are also earmarked for the financing of Lhyfe projects – Lhyfe was launched in 2019 and already has a portfolio of 60 projects throughout Europe:
- In France, with Banque des Territoires which plans to finance all the production sites developed by Lhyfe in France, including the Great West Hydrogen Valley (VHyGO) project, which aims to make access to renewable hydrogen more widespread in western France: Lorient, Brest, Dieppe as well as the ramping-up of the Bouin site. This three-region project (Pays de la Loire, Brittany & Normandy) aims to:
– Avoid 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2024
– Produce 5 tonnes a day of renewable hydrogen
– Have a network of 20 refuelling stations
– Have 500 vehicles (mostly heavy) running on hydrogen
– Cover 25 towns/cities
Lhyfe is also planning to deploy its facilities in other French regions. - Internationally, through a partnership with SWEN Capital Partners: After the announcement last spring of Lhyfe’s first international projects in Denmark and a more recently revealed project in Portugal, new projects are due to be announced in Italy, Germany and the UK.
Swen Capital Partners and Banque des Territoires joined Lhyfe’s five original investors: Noria, Ovive (Les Saules Group), Ouest Croissance, Océan Participations, and the semi-public company Vendée Energie.
Noria, Ovive, Ouest Croissance and Océan Participations also backed the company in this latest new funding round.
We are proud to support Lhyfe in this major raising of funds through our SWEN Impact Fund for Transition and to leverage our joint expertise in renewable hydrogen. We have found people that we can trust, with whom we share the desire to support innovation and provide solutions for the development of a carbon-free industry and the emergence of a French industry base that generates jobs
Olivier Aubert, Managing Director at SWEN Capital Partners.
Renewable hydrogen is a priority of the recovery plan and a key issue for tackling the necessary decarbonization of our societies driven by more sustainable territories. Lhyfe, through its capacity for innovation and its responsiveness, makes it possible to address these issues effectively. Our support for the development of Lhyfe involves the implementation of the first site in Bouin in Vendée, and the Vhygo project, which is an excellent example of an area-based industrial system with promising prospects for all of western France.
Emmanuel Legrand, head of the Energy and Ecological Transition department for Banque des Territoires
We are proud to welcome important players such as SWEN Capital Partners and Banque des Territoires into our equity. The commitment of SWEN Capital Partners to the environment shows that our ecological hydrogen production solution has the capacity to offer a more breathable future to our children. Banque des Territoires confirms the robustness, intelligence and potential of the Lhyfe model in France, for industry and communities.
Matthieu Guesné, CEO and founder of Lhyfe. “