SWEN Capital Partners, a provider of unlisted sustainable investment solutions, has, through the SWEN Impact Fund for Transition (SWIFT), invested in Lhyfe, a pioneer and pure player in renewable green hydrogen.
It is SWEN’s first deal in hydrogen. Since its creation in 2019, SWIFT has mostly targeted projects related to methanisation in renewable gas stations (130 to 150 methanation units supported).
SWEN Capital Partners participated in Lhyfe second funds series, which allowed the company to secure 50 million euros from SWEN Capital Partners and Banque des Territoires onboard alongside original investors. The announcement comes as Lhyfe inaugurated on Thursday September 30 its first production site in Bouin (Vendée, France). It is the first in the world to produce renewable green hydrogen using wind power on an industrial scale, and this the first of many such sites to come.
SWEN Capital Partners and Banque des Territoires joined Lhyfe’s five original investors: Noria, Ovive (Les Saules Group), Ouest Croissance, Océan Participations, and the semi-public company Vendée Energie.
This second USD50 million fundraising round will allow Lhyfe to strengthen its deployment and R&D teams, in France and abroad. Lhyfe currently employees 60 staff and shall double this figure in 2022. The company already has teams in France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and Portugal. These will be joined in the coming weeks by new teams in Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.
On the R&D front, production from offshore wind turbines will be accelerated, with the implementation of the first hydrogen production demonstrator at sea, at the SEM-REV offshore pilot site, off the coast of Le Croisic from 2022, and the development of new projects.
“We are delighted to make our first hydrogen investment with SWEN Impact Fund for Transition as we deeply believe that hydrogen technologies can bring impactful solutions to the fight against climate change. With Lhyfe, we are investing in a company with a proven technology and a capacity to innovate furthermore to tackle the challenges that we face ahead,” says Olivier Aubert, Managing Director at SWEN Capital Partners.
