The SOLIDpower Group does not come to rest. After Alberto Ravagni left SOLIDpower S.p.A. in mid-February 2019 and made way for Dr. Andreas Pichler, who is from Austria, as the new Managing Director, Andreas Ballhausen also left SOLIDpower GmbH at the end of March 2019. He was replaced by Gerald Neuwirth, who will henceforth steer the fortunes of the German company as Managing Director and Sales Director of the Australian-German-Italian Group.

On the occasion of the appointment of the trained business economist from the company management, it was stated that “the SOLIDpower Group is orienting itself for the future” in order to be able to better implement its expansion strategy.

Ballhausen had joined SOLIDpower in February 2017 and had taken over the position from Guido Gummert (see H2-international issue Apr. 2017). According to company sources, Ballhausen left the manufacturer of high-temperature fuel cell devices at his own request, as his goals were not identical with those of the partly new investors. In 2017 SOLIDpower received “a strategic financial injection of 40 million euros” from an undisclosed investor and in mid-2018 entered into a long-term cooperation with Buderus Thermotechnik. Andreas Pichler, member of the SOLIDpower supervisory board, explained: “Together with Gerald Neuwirth as CSO, we will implement a new marketing strategy and, in particular, expand our field of business in Europe.”

At the beginning of June, Ballhausen accepted a new position that is only indirectly related to fuel cells.