MAN Makes Hydrogen Play

MAN Energy Solutions (MAN) acquired 40% of the electrolysis technology company H-Tec Systems, a subsidiary of GP Joule, a project developer specializing in renewable energies and sector coupling.

GP Joule retains around 60% of the remaining shares. The contract makes provisions for a majority or complete takeover of the company at a later date.

H-Tec Systems is based in Germany with sites in Lübeck, Braak and Augsburg and has more than 20 years’ experience in the research and development of hydrogen technology. With 20 employees, the company develops and produces stacks and electrolyzers for manufacturing hydrogen with electricity.

“The strategic partnership with MAN Energy Solutions provides the ideal conditions for the further development of our subsidiary H-Tec Systems,” said Ove Petersen, CEO of GP Joule. “For the purposes of not only maintaining our innovative strength, but also entering into series production and international distribution, we now have the long-standing expertise of an international corporation to build on.”

“We view this partnership with H-Tec Systems as a strategic milestone and as our entry into the hydrogen economy,” said Dr. Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions. “Hydrogen can be obtained from renewable energy sources in a climate-neutral fashion and forms the basis for the production of a variety of synthetic fuels using power-to-X technology. These ‘e-fuels’, as they are known, are urgently required to bring about a change in energy policy, since they allow renewable energy sources to be used even outside of electricity grids. The production of hydrogen consequently constitutes an important interface in the coupling of the energy, transportation and heating sectors.”

H-Tec Systems will continue to be independently represented on the market with no change in the level of commitment to its customers, the companies said. The parties have agreed not to disclose the price of the acquisition.

MAN has been a supplier of methanation reactors for many years and a pioneer of Power-to-X technology, where it is able to offer plants on an industrial 50-MW scale. Besides H-Tec Systems, MAN is working with other partners in the area of electrolysis. This collaboration will also continue.

MAN announced in 2017 that its business activities concerning sustainable technologies and solutions would be expanded to become the main source of revenue by 2030.

In 2015, MAN acquired the maritime division of Cryo AB, a Swedish company manufacturing cryogenic equipment for the storage, distribution and handling of liquid natural gas. Two years later, the company acquired a 40% stake in Aspin Kemp Associates, a Canadian company specializing in battery technology.

In 2018, in collaboration with ABB, MAN also introduced the trigeneration storage solution ETES (Electro-Thermal Energy Storage system) to the market. ETES stores electricity and thermal energy (for both heating and cooling) in significant quantities and distributes these to consumers (read more about it https://dieselgasturbine.com/three-energy-forms-one-roof).