French industry is increasingly thirsty for hydrogen, even though it is still little used in factories compared to gas and electricity, according to a study by INSEE.
In 2021, hydrogen consumption by industry jumped 40% in France after a 25% drop in 2020, the year of the health crisis, says a note titled “energy bill rises 46% in industry in 2021″.
Overall, however, by 2021, hydrogen will account for only 0.6% of the industry’s energy consumption, 70% of which is based on gas and electricity.
95% of hydrogen is consumed in the chemical sector, a large user of natural gas, which has increased the share of hydrogen from 2% to 3% of its energy consumption by 2021.
Other sectors are also turning to hydrogen, such as electronics, food processing and metallurgy, but in minimal proportions since this element represented less than 0.2% of their energy consumption in 2021, notes the statistics institute.
Hydrogen is highly sought after for the decarbonization potential it offers to industries, provided that it is itself produced from renewable (solar, wind or hydroelectric) or decarbonized (nuclear) electricity.
Last year, gas accounted for 35.4% of industrial energy consumption, ahead of electricity (34.9%), petroleum products (10.4%), steam (7.2%), wood (6.1%), and coal derivatives such as coal, coke or lignite (3.2%).
Combustion of renewables such as biomass and sewage sludge, and of non-renewables such as rubber and plastic waste, accounted for 2.2% of total industrial energy consumption in France.
Including self-generation of steam by factories and establishments, the weight of steam in the energy consumption of factories in France is estimated at 15% by INSEE.
In total, gross energy consumption in industry increased by 7% in 2021, to 34.6 million tons of oil equivalent, but remained lower than in 2019, before the health crisis, especially in chemicals and metallurgy.
The survey covers the energy consumption of industrial sites with 20 or more employees, excluding the energy industry and commercial craft industry, but including recovery.
