Jean-Baptiste Choimet (Elogen): "We plan to build a gigafactory of electrolysers in France, which will start operations in 2025"

Leaders League: Jean-Baptiste, introduce us to Elogen if you would? 

Jean-Baptiste Choimet: Elogen is a French technology company, part of the GTT group. It has a staff of nearly 100 who are dedicated to designing, engineering, manufacturing and selling electrolysers in order to produce low carbon/green hydrogen. Our customers belong to sectors that generally need a lot of energy to operate, such as transport for example (buses, trucks ...) or industry (chemicals, etc...). We are currently working on scaling up, supplying higher power electrolysers to a variety of customers around the world. To this end, we have plans to build an electrolyser gigafactory in France, which will start operations in 2025.

Leaders League: How would you describe your career path? 

I come from the LNG world. Having worked in technical, project and commercial roles, I arrived at GTT with a commercial ambition in mind, as a key account manager to develop LNG transport opportunities. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to get the chance to join Elogen, which GTT had just acquired.

Leaders League: What have you learnt in O&G that can benefit the renewable energy sector?

LNG occupies an essential place in the energy mix of the transition and remains for me a field of fabulous opportunities to advance sustainable energy. Being a pragmatic person, I believe that the energy transition will not happen in a day, so we have to move forward on several paths, simultaneously, with the different energy sources and technologies that we have.

In terms of learning, I think my time at Technip was fundamental, first of all because I worked there on very complex projects, with many challenges. It was there that I learned the fundamentals, the methodology and the structuring of projects. The Technip Way was just as incredible: very international, very technical and resolutely rich in interpersonal relations. We still say “we” when alumni talk about Technip, even if we left the company a long time ago. In terms of skills, what I learned about project management remains a key asset for me today ─ it is in itself a school of development, a growth engine that takes you from technical to contract negotiation, including finance.

This variety of roles encourages a learning attitude that I greatly value and, indeed, look for when hiring today: how the person will anticipate, adapt, be connected to the context is key.

Leaders League: What would you say differentiates the skills needed in the hydrogen sector versus O&G? 

I am not sure it’s O&G versus hydrogen. It’s more “big versus small” or even “structured/mature versus building up”. In my part of the hydrogen world, complexity and technicality are key, but we can’t rely on existing processes, we have to build them as we go. This means people need to be self-reliant, look at the glass half full, structure for the medium term and deliver for the short term all at the same time. There can be times in O&G when too much process kills the process and dramatically reduces agility: something we cannot afford at Elogen.

When I hire people, I hire un état d’esprit, a mindset: someone with a get-things-done attitude who is able to move the needle, going forward when it’s not 100% certain, trusting people not just the process … That philosophy is very different from most big O&G companies.

Leaders League: Talking of hiring or the talent pool in general, what are your thoughts? 

At Elogen, our ambition is to attract the best talent to fuel growth. Concretely, in 2023, we want to hire around a third of additional talent. As I told you, our next big step will be to scale up with the gigafactory, and so will integrate another category of professional in a beautiful region, the Loire Valley.

I said that mindset is important, but so is experience: we welcome people with experience, not necessarily in the field of hydrogen. Experience allows us to structure as much as to deliver and I am sure there are plenty of talented individuals out there who master processes and skills and are ready to experiment for themselves in a less formatted environment!  

Competition is fierce as similar skills are required for very different industries, with hydrogen itself being a competitive ecosystem when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. But being a green hydrogen player is a great asset, because we offer a meaningful adventure in addition to a job.  

A growth mindset and the ability to learn are our main recruitment criteria. We also trust our Elogen employees to source top talent, and we receive support from the GTT group. I am also convinced that among the colleagues in the O&G sector, there are very talented people who could bring a lot to Elogen and become pioneers in the transition to a greener world.

Leaders League: And Elogen’s strategic perspectives?  

While customers today are more into mobility, in the future, when technology and industrial scale allow, we will be able to connect with large industrial customers and fully reuse the knowledge and culture we have developed in the O&G sector. We will probably find ourselves in front of the same type of customers that we had in Technip for example. EPCs in O&G have a remarkable customer centricity that we can learn from ─ knowing their mode of operation, their expectations and their standards will be a key asset. Their truly global approach will make sense to shorten our growth experience and we will be able to fully leverage their talent, with a pioneering mindset! 

Leaders League: A final thought on gender diversity in the hydrogen sector?

Well, at Elogen, I’m happy to work with anyone who has the skills and the mindset – that’s what will determine my choice, not gender. If there is a given percentage of female graduates in the specialties we are considering, I hope Elogen can capture and develop at least the same proportion of female talent as male. Our role is also to promote technical career paths to high school and undergraduate women, so that they can become leaders of the energy transition.

For example, we recently hired our head of projects, a senior position, who happens to be a woman. Actions speak louder than words.