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The energy transition towards a non-fossil driven economy is unquestionably the biggest global challenge we currently face. Among the most promising alternatives ranks the hydrogen economy, in which Green Hydrogen will substitute coal, oil or natural gas.
H2UB is Europe’s leading Open Innovation Platform for the whole hydrogen value chain and organizer of the Hydrogen Convention, a vibrant event for start-ups, investors, entrepreneurs, and companies driving the energy transition. Located in Essen, Germany, which is the headquarter for numerous energy companies such as OGE, E.ON and RWE, it has become one of the most profiled platforms to show and discuss the latest innovations, the progress as well as remaining obstacles and opportunities.
SAP´s ambition to support Energy Companies in their transition to renewables and sustainable energy production, has led to various partnerships and projects in the area of hydrogen. Topics such as tracing the chain of custody, mass balancing and, most importantly, carbon accounting to track the CO2-footprint along the value chain including credits and certificates are part of SAP´s sustainability solution portfolio.
Doors were opened on the 18th of June at 10:00 and the event centered around a few dozens of start-ups demonstrating numerous areas of innovations, spanning from materials management, new ways to produce ammonia to software for optimizing the production.
The starting point was a thought-provoking keynote, held by Michael Liebreich, CEO of EcoPragma, an investor dedicated to the net zero transition in energy. He sharply analyzed the opportunities and risks of the hydrogen economy and raised concerns about the competitiveness in various areas, calling for a more focused approach towards areas in which hydrogen will be a competitive source of energy. He pointed out that scalability, availability and efficiency in production and logistics remain obstacles.
In the following, various start-ups had the opportunity to introduce their offerings and the market model. Managers, researchers, and analysts joined panels to discuss facets of the transition, giving insights to projects such as the expansion of the H2-pipeline network and H2-Production sites. It became apparent that in the past years, the topic has gathered large momentum, leading to substantial investments in infrastructure and long-term partnerships between CO2-intensive industries and hydrogen energy providers resulting in new offerings such as Green Steel or net zero fertilizers.
Summing up, the Hydrogen Convention in Essen underpinned that the transition to hydrogen is in full swing and entering the stage in which business models are becoming economically viable, leading to a diversified and specialized ecosystem which will give SAP the opportunity to continuously support companies in becoming a net-zero player.
