What if the natural resources of the Moselle subsoil constituted an energy Eldorado? According to research by the multi-energy producer La Française de l'Énergie (56 employees; 39.2 million euros in turnover; based in Pontpierre), it would be stuffed with white hydrogen (which is found naturally underground). “We created the tools allowing us to measure the concentration of hydrogen underground in Folschviller. We were able to validate the existence of a significant concentration and we still have to identify the volumes that we could recover”, explains Julien Moulin, the director of Française de l'Énergie during the economic meetings entitled “L' energy in Moselle, challenges and future” organized on Wednesday November 6 at the Moselle Open.
It remains to work on the methods of production of the resource before entering the commercialization phase. “We hope to move into the operational phase in less than three years. There is no such favorable geological basin elsewhere in Western Europe,” rejoices Julien Moulin, who would like to see more state investments directed towards hydrogen. “In the United States, companies specializing in hydrogen can raise hundreds of millions of euros,” adds Julien Moulin.
“Rather than overtaxing the country's major investors, why not give them advantages as soon as they decide to invest in companies like Française de l'Énergie which have projects that can be profitable while promoting national sovereignty” , asks Hervé Bauduin, leader of France Industrie Grand Est.
Moselle can still count on an ecosystem strong in this energy with players like GRTgaz or GazelEnergie who have made the exploitation of this resource a priority. Politicians also believe in it: “Hydrogen represents a new generation of economy that will open up to the world. The know-how we have here will give a new industrial future to our territory,” rejoices Patrick Weiten, president of the Department.
The challenge now would be not to miss the train: “Economic competitiveness will become environmental competitiveness. We were naive sometimes,” recalls Julien Moulin, taking the example of photovoltaic solar panels which mainly come from China.
As it stands, is it possible to do otherwise? According to decision-makers, competition would be biased. For Jean-François Malcuit, director of the ArcelorMittal site in Florange, it is difficult to fight. “When we produce 1 ton of steel, we generate 1.8 tons of CO2. ArcelorMittal is transforming these manufacturing processes to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050. In the meantime, for every tonne of CO2 generated, we pay around sixty euros in taxes. Facing us, we have Chinese competitors for whom it is free. We are in favor of competition which allows us to always work and innovate to remain the best, but the rules of the game must be the same,” underlines the manager during the economic meeting.
In Moselle 15% of jobs are linked to industry, which corresponds to 54,000 industrial jobs. The challenges of the sector are therefore of particular interest.
