HDF Energy, which is listed on the Euronext exchange after an initial public offering in 2021, is in talks with the owner of the Holden site, Melbourne property developer and entrepreneur Ross Pelligra.

It is also vying to be part of a $593 million hydrogen project near Whyalla which is being funded by the South Australian government and championed by Premier Peter Malinauskas as a core economic driver.

The government aims to have a taxpayer-funded 250-megawatt hydrogen production facility, 200-megawatt hydrogen power plant and a hydrogen storage facility up and running in early 2026 at Whyalla, in the state’s north. More than 60 companies put in an expression of interest and the government is aiming to announce the successful bidder by October.

Mr de Charentenay said he couldn’t comment any further on that process. “We have submitted our interest,” he said.

It’s a pure coincidence. A new industry is taking place on an old industry.

— Jean-Noel de Charentenay, HDF Energy deputy CEO

The company has struck agreements with governments in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Namibia to advance hydrogen plans in those countries, providing turnkey solutions where multiple numbers of the 12-metre boxes containing hydrogen fuel cells can be connected to provide electricity.

Mr de Charentenay said the group was also in talks with large mining companies to supply the units at mining sites.

He said it was an ironic twist that the former Ford factory site at Blanquefort in France had been dismantled and HDF Energy had taken over there, and a similar prospect loomed at the Holden site.

“It’s a pure coincidence. A new industry is taking place on an old industry,” he said.

Should the Holden site plans proceed, the cost would be less than the $34 million investment in France, he said. “We took the decision in Europe to build from scratch,” he said.

Mr de Charentenay said existing buildings at Holden could be utilised, and production lines installed for the hydrogen fuel cells, adding: “It’s more off the shelf.”

Holden stopped manufacturing cars at the Elizabeth plant in late 2017, and in 2020 US parent General Motors announced it would ditch the Holden brand, with 185 Holden dealerships scrapped around Australia.

Mr de Charentenay said being publicly listed had enabled HDF Energy to access capital to fund its plans, and he acknowledged there had been an enormous amount of funds invested around the world in a sector which still needed to prove itself capable of delivering solid investment returns.

“The whole industry has to demonstrate that hydrogen will be a real industry in the future,” he said.