Project to turn Paris airports into a 'hydrogen hub'
A group of four major aviation industry players in the French capital are planning to transform Paris airports into a true ‘hydrogen hub’, by launching a call for ex-pressions of interest to explore the opportunities generated by the hydrogen economy in Paris airports.
The entities – Paris region, Groupe ADP, Air France-KLM and Airbus – believe that the advent of hydrogen will revolutionise the way airport infrastructure is de-signed and operated, and thus want to anticipate and support developments that could help to decarbonise air transport activities in the Île-de-France region.
Applications can be submitted from today, 11 February, until 19 March 2021, and selected projects will be disclosed at the end of April. The call for expressions of interest complies with the French government's energy transition strategy and supports the European Commission’s goal of striving for zero-emission aircrafts by 2035.
The project will focus on:
- the storage, transport and distribution of hydrogen (gaseous and liquid) in an airport environment;
- the diversification of hydrogen use in airports and in the aviation industry (in-cluding ground-handling vehicles, rail transport, energy supply for buildings or aircraft in ground operations);
- the circular economy around hydrogen (including the recovery of hydrogen dis-sipated during liquid hydrogen fuelling, recovery of a by-product from a reaction to produce de-carbonated hydrogen). (ah)