Activity Report
A future built on Sustainability
Launching Hy24
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Investors are looking beyond fossil‑fuel finance and endorsing managers with a proven expertise and a vision for the energy transition.
”Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to deliver Net Zero and ensuring energy independence means nothing less than reinventing the world’s energy infrastructure. This is a huge challenge. We must replace or repurpose the incredibly complex energy generation, supply, and consumption systems embedded in economies worldwide.
With the creation of Hy24 by Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen in late 2021, we aim to be one of the pioneers in this multi‑decade transition. Hy24 will identify and finance the hydrogen infrastructure of the future – a critical part of the next‑generation global energy system. It is the largest fund of its kind in the world and is backed by leading industrial players.
Guided by a group of global infrastructure investment professionals and experts in hydrogen, Hy24 will invest to accelerate the scaling up of hydrogen projects along the whole value chain: production, conversion, storage, supply and usage. We will help to turn large early‑stage and strategic projects into essential energy infrastructure.
International Energy Agency (IEA) analysis shows that hydrogen is essential to the energy transition – the fuel that will make it possible. Much of the world’s existing industries, from steel plants and fertilizer factories to long‑haul airliners, can use clean hydrogen as their new energy vector. Hydrogen could represent 18% of the global energy system in 2050.
Reinventing the world’s energy infrastructure does not mean consigning to the scrap heap the massive investments the world has made in today’s energy systems. Major parts of them can be recycled, made more efficient and reinvented as part of the solution. Natural gas pipelines and LPG terminals can be converted to carry hydrogen. Storage facilities can be repurposed to hold clean fuels or captured carbon, as Ardian Infrastructure is planning to do with the Géosel facility. Transportation and refueling infrastructure can be similarly repurposed. By 2040, a dedicated European Hydrogen Backbone will require converting 75% of present natural gas pipelines connected by 25% new stretches of pipeline.
We intend to make hydrogen happen. We have used our quarter-century of experience analyzing conventional energy infrastructure projects, and the expertise of our in-house hydrogen specialists, operating partners and advisors, to create an analytical framework for hydrogen investments. Hy24 will use it to drive the energy transition forward.
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The scale of hydrogen refining must increase exponentially. The EU alone has set a 40GW target for 2030 – up from less than 0.1GW today.
”There is now a consensus that hydrogen should account for 15%‑20% of global energy consumption by 2050. To achieve that, we must multiply the amount of hydrogen we produce ten‑fold, shift the process to use renewable energy or carbon‑capture, and create the infrastructure necessary for distribution. The number of large‑scale hydrogen projects has jumped over the past two years. The Hydrogen Council has tracked 359 of them, 80% of which are in Europe, according to its Hydrogen Insights 2021 report. But a much larger scaling up is essential. Only with high volumes – of electrolysis, vehicles, and other hydrogen applications – will it be possible to drive down prices. Only when that happens will take‑up be sufficient to reach Net Zero.
The world’s largest clean hydrogen infrastructure investment manager was launched as a joint venture between Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen. Hy24 is seeking to raise up to €1.8 billion for its debut fund, which will make it the largest fund of its kind in the world.