Interview with Laetitia Salessy, Director of IFP School's Processes for Energy and Chemicals Center
With its commitment towards ecological transition, IFP School just appointed Laetitia Salessy as Hydrogen Coordinator.
1. Why was this mission created?
The School is convinced of the importance of hydrogen in the creation of a low-carbon world. Today, hydrogen is one of the key elements in meeting the several challenges in ecological transition. As an energy vector, hydrogen is a promising solution for electricity storage, heat production, mobility, and even decarbonization of industries.
In France and in Europe, hydrogen is a fast-developing market. It is a strategic industry for the future energy mix which has generated strong societal and industrial expectations. As for us, we must also prepare ourselves to identify the key skills to be amplified or integrated to better adapt the education and training we offer.
As a school focusing on energy innovation and sustainable mobility, IFP School intends to contribute to the creation of a decarbonized hydrogen industry by preparing future talents in the sector.
2. What does your new mission consist of?
I am happy to provide my knowledge of key players in the ecosystem and contribute to the dynamic focused on hydrogen which has been started at the School.
As part of the task entrusted to me, I will connect with François Kalaydjian, Director of Economics and Technology Intelligence and Hydrogen Coordinator at IFP Energies nouvelles, and represent the School within the association France Hydrogène.
My priority shall be to develop the course offering for hydrogen, while monitoring the developments in this regard in France and overseas. The School strives to meet the future business needs of its industrial partners and the expectations of the students as regards technological innovations and environmental issues.
I will also be in charge of supporting project managers and coordinating the different actions undertaken.
3. What are the courses related to hydrogen offered at IFP School?
Hydrogen is a transversal topic, and it involves all the centers of the School and is already being introduced in different programs. We could say that hydrogen is more or less involved in all our training offerings.
At the Georesources and Energy center, for example, the course on geological storage of gas has been extended to include hydrogen.
As regards Processes, we are providing courses on the different methods of hydrogen production (grey, blue, green) and also storage and transport technologies.
As regards Powertrains, our engineering students can enroll for the course on hydrogen and fuel cells, which is conducted by Julien Roussel, a graduate of the Petroleum products and Powertrains program (class of 2002). Moreover, at the end of 2021, we introduced a new elective course called "Hydrogen for mobility", dedicated to the uses of hydrogen in heavy mobility. This course was just made available as part of a brand new online training module.
Thanks to the support of our graduates through the Alumni Fund, the IFP School’s Powertrains and Sustainable Mobility center should soon have a module dedicated to an electric test bench to simulate the powering of an electric powertrain in hybrid mode using an emulated hydrogen fuel cell and battery. This test bench shall allow upskilling and training our students in the specificities of hydrogen.
As regards the Economics and Energy Management center, the refinery carbon management course includes hydrogen production, and the students work on a project involving the construction of a green hydrogen production unit within a territory.
Among the new orientations of the training programs chosen, we plan to improve case studies and projects based on hydrogen issues. The School’s ambition is to offer unique know-how and technical mastery as regards hydrogen.
Interview conducted by Meyling SIU