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Carbon neutrality can’t be achieved without hydrogen

Carbon neutrality can’t be achieved without hydrogen

Portrait Rainer Baake, © Climate Neutrality Foundation

© Climate Neutrality Foundation

Interview with Rainer Baake, director of the Climate Neutrality Foundation

For years, Rainer Baake was seen as one of the staunchest skeptics of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. During his tenure as state secretary at the German economy and energy ministry (2014 to 2018) and the environment ministry (1998 to 2005) he acquired a reputation for blocking hydrogen schemes – with some projects getting as far as his desk but not much further. However, for the past few months he’s been sending out rather different signals, especially since his appointment as director of the Climate Neutrality Foundation in July 2020. H2-international has taken this opportunity to talk to him about the foundation’s recently published hydrogen study and about his new approach – which, he argues, isn’t really that new. (more…)

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Advent acquires FES and SerEnergy

Advent acquires FES and SerEnergy

Portrait Hans-Peter Fischer, © fischer group

Hans-Peter Fischer, © fischer group

The fischer group is transferring its fuel cell business to Advent Technologies Holdings, Inc. At the end of June 2021, the US FC company announced that, in addition to the assets of German fischer eco solutions GmbH (FES), it was also taking over those of Danish SerEnergy A/S. Advent will pay 15 million euros in cash and 37 million euros in ADN shares for this, and will henceforth be responsible for both the 17 FES employees and 55 SerEnergy employees in Aalborg, Denmark, as well as the 20 in Manila, Philippines. (more…)

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German-American takeover

German-American takeover

portrait Dr. Massimo Venturi, © Eberspächer

© Eberspächer

It also works the other way round: While mostly large US corporations take over foreign companies, in this case it is a German company that has bought up ViCTORi, LLC. At the beginning of July, the Eberspächer Group announced that it had acquired 100 per cent of the North American compressor manufacturer from Boulder, Colorado. With this step, the automotive supplier from Esslingen secured access to the worldwide hydrogen and fuel cell market. (more…)

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Tapping regional potential

Tapping regional potential

Regional value chains, © H2Rivers/H2Rhein-Neckar

© H2Rivers/H2Rhein-Neckar

Hydrogen Regions series: HyPerformer H2Rivers and H2Rhein-Neckar

The metropolitan region of Rhine-Neckar and the central Neckar area in Germany are set to become a showcase for the future of fuel cell mobility. As part of an innovative strategy covering hydrogen production, distribution and transportation as well as various mobility applications, plans will seek to exploit synergies between H2Rivers – a HyPerformer project – and the H2Rhein-Neckar program in Baden-Württemberg. (more…)

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H2 pipeline for eastern Germany

The transmission system operators Gascade Gastransport GmbH and Ontras Gastransport GmbH are planning to set up an eastern German hydrogen hub with doing hydrogen. Within this framework, H2 production, transport, storage and consumption in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt are to be bundled. A regional H2 pipeline network is to be installed for this purpose by 2026, in which about two-thirds of the existing natural gas infrastructure will be converted and one-third of supplementary H2 pipelines will be newly built. Christoph von dem Bussche, Managing Director of Gascade, explained: “Together we can initiate the rapid development of a hydrogen economy in eastern Germany. With 475 kilometres of launch network, we can quickly build large H2 capacity and also expand internationally.” Gascade further told H2-international: “Our approach is to build a physical hub. We want to create the transport infrastructure as a link between the production and consumption of hydrogen.”

1 million electric vehicles accomplished

1 million electric vehicles accomplished

Hyundai Nexo

Hyundai Nexo

Just in time for the federal election, the responsible federal ministries announced that the federal government had “reached a decisive milestone with one million e-cars on German roads”. To be honest, the second headline of the press release says: “More than 50 per cent of these electric vehicles are purely battery-powered.” Almost half are hybrid vehicles. (more…)

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