A German journey into the hydrogen future

Elli­nor Ehrn­berg is a hard woman to pin down. As the Pres­i­dent of Smoltek Hydro­gen, she is con­stant­ly on the move, shut­tling between work­shops, meet­ings, and lab vis­its. But after sev­er­al attempts, I final­ly man­aged to sit down with her for an in-depth con­ver­sa­tion about her recent three-day vis­it to Ger­many and what it means for Smoltek’s future.

Exploring the hydrogen heartland

Ehrnberg’s trip, which took place between Novem­ber 11th and 13th, was part of a Scan­di­na­vian del­e­ga­tion orga­nized by the Ger­man Cham­bers of Com­merce in Swe­den and Den­mark. The pur­pose was to explore busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties and con­nect with key play­ers in Germany’s rapid­ly expand­ing hydro­gen sector.

Over three days, the del­e­ga­tion toured major hydro­gen facil­i­ties in the Cen­tral Ger­man Chem­i­cal Tri­an­gle, Lusa­tia, and North Rhine-West­phalia. They met with lead­ing experts, sup­pli­ers, and tech­nol­o­gy providers, gain­ing a first­hand look at the ground­break­ing projects underway.

“The scale and speed of what is hap­pen­ing in Ger­many right now is tru­ly remark­able,” Ehrn­berg said with pal­pa­ble enthu­si­asm. “There is a clear con­sen­sus across the coun­try: Ger­many is going all in on hydro­gen, with mas­sive invest­ments to make the vision a reality.”

A nation transformed

Ehrn­berg explained that Germany’s whole­heart­ed embrace of hydro­gen is the cul­mi­na­tion of a series of ener­gy shocks over the past decade. The 2011 Fukushi­ma dis­as­ter prompt­ed the coun­try to begin phas­ing out nuclear pow­er. More recent­ly, Russia’s inva­sion of Ukraine and the sab­o­tage of the Nord Stream pipelines has dras­ti­cal­ly reduced nat­ur­al gas supplies.

“You can draw a straight line from Fukushi­ma to the war in Ukraine to where Ger­many is today,” she said. “They have sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly elim­i­nat­ed options that were no longer viable and have res­olute­ly com­mit­ted to hydro­gen as the path forward.”

This trans­for­ma­tion was on full dis­play dur­ing Ehrnberg’s vis­it. The del­e­ga­tion toured major hydro­gen facil­i­ties in the Cen­tral Ger­man Chem­i­cal Tri­an­gle, Lusa­tia, and North Rhine-West­phalia. They met with lead­ing experts, sup­pli­ers, and tech­nol­o­gy providers.

“At every stop, we heard the same refrain,” Ehrn­berg recount­ed. “Ger­many sees hydro­gen as the key to its ener­gy future. And they are ded­i­cat­ing immense resources to real­ize this poten­tial, not some­day, but right now.”

A compelling opportunity

This presents a tremen­dous oppor­tu­ni­ty for Smoltek, which has devel­oped ground­break­ing elec­trode tech­nol­o­gy for PEM-elec­trolyz­ers. Ehrnberg’s meet­ings allowed her to show­case Smoltek’s solu­tions to a high­ly engaged audience.

“With a few excep­tions, the response was over­whelm­ing­ly pos­i­tive,” she said. “You could see the wheels turn­ing as peo­ple grasped the poten­tial of what we’ve created.”

The excep­tions she referred to were some engi­neers direct­ly involved in elec­trolyz­er devel­op­ment, who exhib­it­ed a bit of “not invent­ed here syn­drome” – a reluc­tance to embrace ideas or tech­nolo­gies that orig­i­nate out­side their own orga­ni­za­tion. But among the busi­ness lead­ers, investors, and pol­i­cy­mak­ers Ehrn­berg met with, the enthu­si­asm was uniform.

“I came back with a stack of busi­ness cards and a very full fol­low-up list,” she said with a smile. “The inter­est and urgency were obvious.”

The road ahead

For Ehrn­berg, the vis­it was a pow­er­ful val­i­da­tion of Smoltek’s strat­e­gy and a clear call to action. To build on the momen­tum, she is cur­rent­ly explor­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of increas­ing Smoltek’s pres­ence in Germany.

“We absolute­ly must have boots on the ground, giv­en how fast this mar­ket is mov­ing,” she insist­ed. “This is an impor­tant moment, and we are deter­mined to act quick­ly to make the most of it.”

As our con­ver­sa­tion wound down, I sensed Ehrnberg’s eager­ness to return to work. The trip had made a deep impres­sion, but it was also clear that it was just the begin­ning for her.

“Ger­many has made its choice. Hydro­gen is the future,” she said as we part­ed. “And Smoltek is going to be a key part of that future. Just watch.”

Share your thoughts

Curi­ous about the future of hydro­gen in Ger­many and Smoltek’s role in this trans­for­ma­tion? Vis­it Smoltek’s IR page on LinkedIn and join the dis­cus­sion. In the post link­ing to this arti­cle, you can ask Elli­nor Ehrn­berg your ques­tions about Germany’s hydro­gen ambi­tions and how Smoltek plans to contribute.