Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, is very reserved about the rapid growth of green hydrogen

The smokescreen of the energy transition. The CEO of French energy giant TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, said on Sunday at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that green hydrogen was at "an embryonic stage", and that priority should be given to biofuels obtained from biomass to reduce emissions.

Often presented as the Holy Grail of decarbonization, the low-carbon hydrogen sector (produced from electricity from renewable or nuclear sources) is struggling to take off due to very uncertain demand and the low deployment of electrolysers, these machines that extract hydrogen from water using electric current, a technology that is still very expensive. “Let's recognize that we are only at the embryonic stage and stop talking about 10, 20 million tonnes,” declared the CEO of TotalEnergies in reference to the very ambitious objectives of the European Union for annual production. "It does not mean anything. Let’s be serious and find the right roadmap,” he commented.

The European Commission has indicated that it wants to produce 20 million tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen per year from 2030. However, a study by the French Atomic Energy Commission revealed last month that industrial demand for low-carbon hydrogen would amount to only 2.5 million tonnes per year by 2030 and 9 million tonnes in 2040. In the world, the largest electrolyser was commissioned by China in July 2023, with a capacity of 260 MW and production expected 20,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen per year. “Just one, not ten, just one,” observed Patrick Pouyanné, who judges electrolyzer technology “quite immature, in fact.”

“To be clear, there is no way to reduce the cost of green hydrogen if it is only a niche market,” for refineries for example, the CEO stressed. “If we do not have a market (…) for transport, it will be very difficult to bring down costs,” according to him. For the boss of the French major, “the best way to produce green molecules today is biofuel”, made from biomass (raw materials of plant, animal or waste origin). As for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), he also believes that “the best way” is to produce it from biomass, “not to jump on green hydrogen” to make synthetic fuels (e-fuels). ). “Let’s give priority to biofuels, there is a lot to do and it is working,” he argued.