Ardian-backed Hy24, Mirova, CDPQ invest in green hydrogen platform

Hy2gen, a Germany-based company that develops, finances, builds and operates green hydrogen and e-fuel production facilities, has raised €200 million in convertible bonds and preferred equity from Hy24, Mirova, CDPQ and energy and technology engineering company Technip Energies.

The convertible bonds will be used to finance project capex, while the preferred equity will be used for project development, a spokesman for Hy2gen told affiliate title Infrastructure Investor.

“We are not disclosing the split between preferred equity and convertible bonds, or the respective ownership between new investors,” he said, but noted that the preferred equity injection “represents one third of the company”.

Mirova also declined to comment on the ownership split between investors, “but the distribution among the four new investors is rather balanced,” investment director of Mirova’s Energy Transition Funds Anne-Laure Messier-Marguier told Infrastructure Investor. “The investment terms are pari passu between the four new investors,” she added.

Mirova is making its portion of the investment through its fifth energy transition fund, MET5. Investing in Hy2gen is in line with the “fund’s strategy to include low carbon mobility and green hydrogen production in its portfolio”, Messier-Marguier said.

Hy2gen will use the round of financing to build production facilities for hydrogen-based fuels, also known as e-fuels, for maritime, ground transport, aviation and industrial applications, it said in a statement.

It currently has 880MW of projects in the planning and construction stages. These include Sunrhyse in the south of France, a 30MW electrolysis plant, which is slated to start construction this year and reach maximum production capacity in 2024. Other projects include a 120MW plant producing e-kerosene for the aviation sector, also located in the south of France; a 160MW plant in Germany producing sustainable aviation fuel; a 240MW green ammonia production plant in Norway; and another green ammonia plant (215MW) in Québec. The latter four projects will start production in 2026, Mirova’s Messier-Marguier said.

Hy2gen has another 12GW of projects in development, according to the statement.

For Hy24, the joint venture launched by Ardian and FiveT Hydrogen last October, Hy2gen represents the first investment it is making through its Clean H2 Infra Fund, which reached a €1 billion first close in December.