For an electrolyzer to work with electricity from the grid, it needs a rectifier. The rectifiers work, in essence, like a photovoltaic inverter – but the other way around. Several companies from the solar industry are now active in this area. Positive side effect: Your technology is inherently network friendly.
Membership of the German hydrogen and fuel cell association DWV is going up and up. Not only that, the difficult energy policy situation at the moment means the association is gaining in importance too. For several years the DWV has been evolving into a central industry association alongside the German gas and water industries association DVGW. In order to further improve cooperation between the two organizations, in spring 2021 the DWV executive committee selected Thorsten Kasten, at the DVGW’s suggestion, to become its second chairman (see H2-international, August 2021). H2-international spoke to Kasten during the Hannover Messe about his first year at the DWV and to Tilman Wilhelm, who from April this year has headed up the regulatory policy, press and public relations work of the DVGW, about the challenges in the energy space.
Now it has come to the final step with the loss-making Siemens Gamesa: Siemens Energy will fully integrate the 67.1% subsidiary, as was to be expected. The parent company is buying the remaining shares via a takeover bid for 18.05 EUR per share. As interim financing, a loan in the amount of 4 billion EUR was taken, which will surely be refinanced through the issuance of treasury shares – there’s talk of up to 2.5 billion EUR. Now, there can be – as similarly put in some commentaries – a crackdown, as not all figures at the subsidiary were so transparent and some calculations are now being reconsidered.
It’s been over a year now since Burckhardt Compression has been discussed here. In the meantime, the share price rose from 300 CHF to over 500 CHF, with a reaction (profit-taking?) occurring only recently. Shares will continue to move in accordance with the figures and prospects: Order volume rose sharply by 44.3 percent from the previous year to 1 billion CHF. Turnover in 2021 amounted to 650.7 million CHF and is to reach (planned) 720 to 760 million CHF this year, far outpacing the 700 million CHF originally targeted. Shareholders can rejoice, as they will see a planned 15.4% dividend increase to 7.50 CHF, if the proposal of the board is accepted. Basis is an increase in earnings per share to 14.82 CHF from 13 CHF, which corresponds to an impressive payout ratio of nearly 50 percent. Especially from markets related to hydrogen, great growth opportunities are expected. With 242.9 million CHF in equity and thus a ratio of 29 percent, the company is well positioned.
The future prospects of Bloom are fully intact and unchanged (over 30% growth p. a.) and allow for a very positive outlook: for 2022, over 1.1 billion USD turnover, cash flow positive, gross profit margin of 24% and on the way to the profit zone with strongly increasing backlog of orders and new complementary fields of activity (e.g. electrolysis). The first quarter, with a turnover of 201 million USD and a stated loss of 78.4 million USD (contains 26.3 million USD stock-based compensation), or minus 0.44 USD per share (GAAP), was disappointing at first glance. Large material deliveries to key customer SK ecoplant in South Korea was one reason for it.
Never before has there been so much talk about hydrogen. And, accordingly, many questions. In order to be able to answer at least some of these questions, the German government has now established a Lotsenstelle Wasserstoff (hydrogen navigation post) to inform inquirers particularly about the support offers of the federal government.
The tasks of grid operators include, on the one hand, the safety-oriented design of the gas infrastructure and, on the other hand, guaranteeing the proper functioning and operational reliability of the gas networks over their lifetime of use. Network operators ensure this by adhering to the requirements in the technical regulations of the DVGW, the German association for gas and water standards (Deutscher Verein des Gas- und Wasserfaches e.V.), for all gases in accordance with reference sheet (Arbeitsblatt) G 260. Which now also includes hydrogen. With the publishing of the new Energiewirtschaftsgesetz (German energy industry law, EnWG) in August 2021, the DVGW also became responsible for establishing the technical rules and requirements for the supply of hydrogen by pipeline to the general public. On the one hand, this is a leap of trust in the expertise of the gas industry and, on the other, an impetus to further develop the regulatory framework especially for hydrogen.
Dear Readers!
We could have had it so much easier. Everything we need today, we could have built and prepared long ago. But we knew, or at least suspected, that it might eventually come to this. The Club of Rome had prophesied exactly this scenario already fifty years ago.
A consortium has shown that it’s possible to extract climate-neutral hydrogen from seawater. Involved in the SEA2H2 project are automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler, the startup Hydron Energy, which joined the Schaeffler Group in summer 2021, and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, or WFBR for short, which is in turn part of Wageningen University.
The realization that we need a lot of green hydrogen very quickly, not only in Germany and Europe, but also worldwide, is becoming more and more widespread. Germany has already made the decision to phase out nuclear energy and coal. And after Putin’s attack on Ukraine, natural gas is also under examination. The plan was to make the gas grid greener and greener. Now, there is discussion about a much faster ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. Which scenarios are conceivable for this?