The start-up Lhyfe, based in Nantes, announced on Tuesday that it had produced for the first time worldwide green hydrogen from electricity supplied by a floating wind turbine off the coast of Le Croisic (Loire-Atlantique). Located 20 kilometers from the coast, this offshore hydrogen production site called SeaLhyfe underwent eight months of onshore tests before being transported to sea on May 18. It was then connected in June to the Sem-Rev experimental site, which has been hosting a floating wind turbine for five years.
The bright yellow platform, 21 metres long and 14 metres wide, contains electrolysis capable of transforming seawater, desalinated on site, into hydrogen and oxygen, thanks to the electrical energy provided by the nearby floating wind turbine, Lhyfe explains. This experimental production site is capable of producing 400 kilos of hydrogen per day, or 1 megawatt, according to the start-up. It will remain on site for six months to a year to test hydrogen production in extreme conditions (salinity, swell, storms, etc.).
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European aid
"We wanted to prove that it is possible to produce green hydrogen from offshore wind, which represents considerable potential to massively produce and decarbonize industry and transport faster," explained Matthieu Guesné, founder and CEO of Lhyfe.
The start-up has just won a European call for tenders for a €20 million grant from a consortium of nine companies to coordinate the Hope project, a hydrogen production site on a wind farm off the coast of Ostend (Belgium). This site, announced for 2026, will be connected for the first time to a pipeline that will bring hydrogen ashore.
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Many ongoing projects
"The advantage of hydrogen is that it can be stored, unlike electricity," said Bertrand Alessandrini, CEO of the Open-C Foundation, which manages the Sem-Rev experimentation site initiated by Centrale Nantes. "Many industrialists contact us to come and test the production of energy from the wave, currents or floating photovoltaic panels," he added.
Lhyfe, a start-up founded in Nantes in 2017, inaugurated its first production site in 2021 in Bouin (Vendée), next to an onshore wind farm. The company, which employs around 200 people, is building new production sites in France (Brittany, Occitanie) and Europe (Germany, Sweden).