Author name: Paul Patrick

how-offshore-wind-to-hydrogen-could-help-fill-europe’s-clean-energy-demand

How offshore wind-to-hydrogen could help fill Europe’s clean energy demand

Corporates and innovation, Europe, Next Featured, Sustainability / /

Hydrogen is being hailed as, if not a silver bullet, then at least a crucial component to decarbonising the world’s energy sources. And no wonder — when burned, hydrogen produces zero greenhouse gas emissions. However, the transition to a renewable hydrogen economy must first overcome a non-insignificant list of challenges. 

So-called green hydrogen, produced through electrolysis of water using renewable energy, currently accounts for only about 1% of global production. It is also about three times as expensive as its grey counterpart, produced from fossil fuel sources. 

One of the major pieces of the puzzle to scaling green hydrogen is access to vast amounts of renewable energy and water. Enter fully offshore wind-to-hydrogen, where high capacity factor floating wind turbines are connected to electrolysers that utilise seawater. 

“What is complex and costly in deploying an offshore [wind farm] site is actually converting the energy at sea and bringing it in a cable to shore,” Stéphane Le Berre, offshore project manager at renewable hydrogen producer Lhyfe tells TNW, adding that for the latest large-scale projects, this part alone amounts to billions of euros. 

“One solution for offshore wind park developers to suppress the need for expensive electric substations and cables is to replace them with a hydrogen production plant, which converts the electricity to hydrogen,” Le Berre states. The hydrogen can then be transported through a pipeline — already in plenty of supply in the North Sea, courtesy of the oil and gas industry. 

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

Aiming for green (hydrogen) unicorn status

Founded with six people in 2017 by Matthieu Guesné, today Nantes-based Lhyfe employs 200 people and is present in 16 countries. It has attracted around €80mn in funding, and says its mission is to become a “green unicorn.” Rather than measuring its status in valuation, it hopes to reach a billion tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions. Lhyfe’s onshore site in Bouin, running since H2 2021, currently produces 300kg of green hydrogen per day. One kilogram of hydrogen is the energy equivalent of one gallon (3.78 litres) of petrol, which produces a little over 9kg of CO2 when burned. 

That Lhyfe became a hydrogen producer at all is almost something of a side effect. In fact, it came about partly motivated by addressing another aspect of global warming — the oxygen depletion of the oceans. 

When producing one kilogram of hydrogen through electrolysis, you also release eight kilograms of oxygen as a by-product. Lhyfe has the intention of pumping it back into the sea, to potentially help restore the balance of marine ecosystems disrupted by climate change.

“When we started Lhyfe, we wanted to make offshore hydrogen so that we would have economic viability to bring oxygen to the ocean,” Le Berre says.

World’s first offshore wind-to-hydrogen pilot

In September last year, Lhyfe inaugurated the world’s first offshore renewable hydrogen production pilot site. In June, the company announced that the 1MW demonstrator project, called Sealhyfe, had produced its first kilograms of green hydrogen. (Chinese state-owned Donfang Electric may have beaten Lhyfe to the actual production by a couple of weeks.)

Sealhyfe is located approximately 20km off the coast of Le Croisic, France. Today it produces half a tonne of hydrogen per day. It is plugged into the SEM-REV powerhub — the first European floating wind farm and site for multi-technology offshore testing. 

SEM-REV has an underwater hub, which is like a giant block with four sockets. One of them is used to connect the SEM-REV wind turbine, and another the cable connecting the site to the grid onshore. This leaves two highly coveted sockets available for demonstration projects, one of which now allows the Sealhyfe platform to draw electricity directly from the wind turbine. 

The Sealhyfe electrolyser sits on a floating platform, engineered to stabilise the production unit at sea, and uses desalinated water for the electrolysis. One kilogram of green hydrogen requires nine litres of water, and with potable water scarcity projected to increase significantly over the coming decades, this is one of the main arguments for locating production sites by or on the sea. 

Lhyfe has until May next year before it needs to disconnect from the SEM-REV hub. Until then, it hopes to prove not only that the technology works, but that it can withstand even the harsh conditions of the Atlantic Ocean in winter. 

Hydrogen HOPE

Lessons from Sealhyfe will inform future offshore projects. This includes the unprecedentedly large-scale 10MW HOPE, which Lhyfe is coordinating with another eight partners. The European Clean HydrogenPartnership program has selected the project for a €20mn grant.

HOPE will produce up to four tonnes of green hydrogen a day. Intentions are to have it up and running outside the coast of Belgium in 2026. By 2030, Lhyfe means to have multiplied several 10MW projects for a total capacity of 100MW. 

Lhyfe employees in front of electrolyser platform at inauguration
Lhyfe has grown from a small startup to a company of 200 employees in the span of just a few years. Credit: Lhyfe

Across Europe, several other offshore wind-to-hydrogen production projects are beginning to take shape. One is H2Mare, run by a group of industry and academic partners led by Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa, the energy giant’s wind turbine division. 

“Offshore sites could make it possible for densely populated regions like Europe and Japan to generate at least part of their hydrogen close to coastal demand centres, thereby cutting transportation costs,” says H2Mare’s project coordinator and program manager for offshore hydrogen at Siemens Energy, Mathias Mueller. “Also, wind speeds are generally higher and steadier out at sea, permitting consistently greater output.” 

Siemens has invested €120mn into the project, which will not set up a full-scale offshore system, but rather a test platform on a barge on the open sea, along with an onshore test setup of the electrolysis system. It will attempt to prove the financial viability and best configuration for offshore wind-to-hydrogen. 

Wise from falling behind on batteries, Europe not sleeping on hydrogen

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has chosen H2Mare as one of three flagship hydrogen projects awarded €700mn in total. As part of Germany’s plans of generating 30MW of offshore wind power in 2030, the government has set aside an area in the North Sea for green hydrogen production with a capacity of up to 1GW. 

However, the industry is not satisfied with the ambitions. In May, a group including BP, Siemens Gamesa, RWE, and Lhyfe, signed an appeal to the German government, asking it add a target of an additional 10GW of offshore hydrogen production by 2035 to the national strategy and area development plan. 

The Dutch government is also pushing the offshore hydrogen agenda. In March this year, it designated an area located in the North of the country, near the Wadden Islands, for a 500MW wind-to-hydrogen project. As a stepping stone, it will develop a smaller pilot project with an electrolysis capacity of between 50MW and 100MW. 

“I think Europe was smart enough to bet on hydrogen and to support hydrogen early enough. Because they learned from what happened with the batteries in China, and, of course, anything that Europe has tried to do with batteries was years behind schedule compared to China,” Le Berre says. “Now, Europe has put things in place so that we are on time, and we can actually compete efficiently, economically, and technologically versus China.” 

With RePowerEU, the European Commission has set targets to produce 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030, and predicts that hydrogen — domestic and imported — could make up 14% of its energy mix by 2050. 

To support this aim, it intends to mobilise €372bn through the InvestEU program by 2027. For the European startups building electrolysers or creating demand by developing hydrogen-powered planes and cars, this type of industry support might just propel them off the ground — and us toward a cleaner-burning future. 

How offshore wind-to-hydrogen could help fill Europe’s clean energy demand Read More »

groningen’s-formula-for-startup-success:-fostering-university-spin-offs

Groningen’s formula for startup success: fostering university spin-offs

Deep tech, Startups and technology / /
Groningen’s formula for startup success: fostering university spin-offs

Although academic researchers have the knowledge and skills to develop potentially life changing products for patients, they often face unique challenges compared to other founders. Lengthy and expensive R&D costs often make VCs hesitant to invest. While spinoff founders are experts in their field, they often lack the necessary skills to build a successful startup, particularly in sales and business management. Finally, regulations and certifications often make it difficult to get solutions into the hands of the patients who need them most.

According to a recent report by Techleap.nl, the Netherlands in particular is lagging behind other European countries when it comes to deep tech startups. Although they have a long shelf life (roughly 80% of all academic spinoffs created in the Netherlands are still active), less than half grow beyond 10 employees.

However, the Metropolitan Region of Groningen (including over 235,000 inhabitants and almost 90,000 students) has created its own formula by bringing together its universities, corporates, and local government policies to create a more effective incubator for academic spinoffs such as CC Diagnostics, PureIMS, and Organ Assist (acquired by XVIVO). In turn, this has helped make Groningen the fastest-growing region in the Netherlands in terms of job growth.

The Groningen startup ecosystem now sits at 3.6 billion euros, seeing major growth since 2019 (Techleap Startup & Scaleup Dashboard 2023), Groningen is a top innovative region in Europe (Regional Innovation Scoreboard European Commission), and one of Europe’s leading tech and health hubs.

This year at TNW Conference in Amsterdam, Stephanie Klein Nagelvoort-Schuit, VP of University Medical Centre Groningen, joined an expert panel on How to turn university spinoffs into a commercial success. As the overseer of new digitisation initiatives at UMCG, she shared her unique perspective on some of the challenges these founders face and advice on how to develop successful go-to-market strategies.

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

TNW caught up with Klein Nagelvoort-Schuit after the session to learn more about how Groningen has built an ecosystem that stimulates academic spinoffs.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with


Groningen’s formula for startup success: fostering university spin-offs Read More »

impending-french-law-threatens-the-free-internet,-mozilla-warns

Impending French law threatens the free internet, Mozilla warns

Corporates and innovation, Ecosystems, Government and policy, Startups and technology / /

The French government is close to passing a new law that threatens the free internet, Mozilla has warned.

Named SREN, the bill ostensibly aims to fight online fraud, but its approach has sparked alarm. The concerns centre on a requirement for web browsers to block sites listed on a government-provided list. Critics fear that the plan will turn browsers into censorship tools.

Mozilla, which makes the Firefox browser, is among the most vociferous opponents of the bill. According to the non-profit, the rules would be disastrous for the open internet and create a dangerous yardstick for autocrats.

“Such a move will overturn decades of established content moderation norms and provide a playbook for authoritarian governments that will easily negate the existence of censorship circumvention tools,” Udbhav Tiwari, head of global product policy at Mozilla, said in a blogpost.

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

Tiwari advocates an alternative approach to tackling online fraud. Instead of integrating government block lists within browsers, he suggests using existing malware and phishing protection solutions.

“Forcing browsers to create capabilities that enable website blocking at the browser level is a slippery slope,” Tiwari added.

“While it might be leveraged only for malware and phishing in France today, it will set a precedent and create the technical capability within browsers for whatever a government might want to restrict or criminalize in a given jurisdiction forever.”

Thus far, the plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears. The French government is currently fast-tracking the bill, and aims to vote on the proposals this autumn. In an effort to stop the blocking rule from becoming law, Mozilla has launched a petition against the plan. You can sign it for yourself here.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with


Impending French law threatens the free internet, Mozilla warns Read More »

how-to-apply-for-a-job-you’re-not-fully-qualified-for

How to apply for a job you’re not fully qualified for

Future of Work / /

Job searching can be invigorating, like when you get to imagine yourself sitting behind a new desk or out meeting new clients. But it can also be disappointing if you find exciting roles that you’re not fully qualified for.

Don’t get discouraged when you don’t meet 100% of the criteria in a job listing. Whether you want to move up a level in your career or you’re looking to transition into a completely new job field, you won’t get an offer if you don’t apply. Instead of passing up interesting opportunities, you might just need to think outside the box, do some smart preparation, and get a better understanding of where your skills and the employer’s needs intersect.

Do your research

There’s no rule against applying for a job you’re not qualified for. But if you have absolutely no skills or experience that can be applied to the role, you’re obviously going to be in for a tougher time.

So the first place to begin is by looking at what you know, and doing some comparing and contrasting.

Examine the job spec: what specifics can you glean about what the company’s looking for? Next, look at where your skills meet what’s being sought.

From here, see where there seems to be wiggle room: do they ask for seven years experience, but you have four? Are they looking for managerial experience, but you have none — even though you’ve been taking on a lot more responsibility in the office? You might be closer to the “must-haves” than you realise.

Look at your skills and experience

Going through the job ad to parse what’s likely immovable, what applies to you, and what you can work with is a great first step.

From there, you can examine your CV and how you describe your work experience. Can you outline your experience and skills in a way that makes the employer see how you would suit the role?

You can’t put things on your CV that aren’t true. But you can explain how your existing skills and knowledge can be applied to other areas, outline your qualifications and match what you can do to what the employer needs.

It’s all about focusing on what you can do, and where your experience and knowledge lie — not what elements of the job spec you don’t measure up to. Pretend you’re a friend giving yourself advice, and take a look at your CV through their eyes. What would their advice be?

Create a stellar cover letter

Your cover letter is the first chance to outline why you’d be a good fit. In it, you can explain the ways you would add to the role, how your previous experience helps, and what you’d look forward to doing if you got the job.

When the employer goes on to read your CV, your letter will have given them the knowledge that you know what you’re applying for. They’ll recognise that even if you aren’t 100% qualified, you understand how you could grow into the job.

With the current skills shortages, particularly in STEM, employers are also likely to be more open-minded about employing people who are willing and eager to grow their skills.

Hidden barriers

Keep in mind that there might be barriers to applying for the job that you don’t recognise. A study by LinkedIn found that women are 16% less likely than men to apply for a job after viewing it.

Tara Mohr surveyed 1,000 men and women in the US about this issue and what their attitudes can tell us are revealing.

“They didn’t see the hiring process as one where advocacy, relationships, or a creative approach to framing one’s expertise could overcome not having the skills and experiences outlined in the job qualifications.”

It’s this that can be key: recognising that employers don’t just want a “perfect” fit. They also want someone who’ll blossom in the role.

If you do apply for a job and don’t meet the full qualifications, you won’t be alone. In research from 2019, HR managers said 42% of the resumes they receive are from candidates who don’t meet job requirements — and 62% of employees have been offered a job when they didn’t match the exact qualifications.

So what are you waiting for?

Looking for a new role? Here are three companies hiring on the House of Talent Job Board.

Senior Product Manager – Partner Tech, Zalando, Berlin

Retail company Zalando is looking for a Senior Product Manager to work in its Partner Tech department. This is one of its core departments, and the role would involve being part of a team working on partner-facing and internal-facing products. The company says that all employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need. Find out more here.

Senior Fullstack Developer, Shift Technology, Paris

Shift Technology harnesses the power of AI to enable the world’s leading insurance organisations to make better decisions. For this Senior Fullstack Developer role, which could be based in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, or England, your technical knowledge and autonomy will let you build complete designs for our applications and features. The product you will collaborate on is a platform that helps policyholders to open claims and insurers to take decisions on them. Get the full information here.

Java/Full Stack Developer, Accenture, Basel

Accenture is looking for a Java/Full Stack Developer who can act “like a Swiss Army knife for digital challenges.” You’ll design and implement backends built for speed, reliability, and scalability, and should have a university degree in IT or a technically related subject. See the full job spec here.

For thousands more roles like these, check out the House of Talent Job Board

How to apply for a job you’re not fully qualified for Read More »

cargo-ship-retrofitted-with-‘windwings’-charters-course-for-greener-voyages

Cargo ship retrofitted with ‘WindWings’ charters course for greener voyages

Corporates and innovation, Startups and technology, Sustainability / /

A cargo ship retrofitted with two huge sails has set out on its maiden voyage, potentially chartering a greener course for the global shipping industry.

The ship Pyxis Ocean will test the so-called “WindWings” as it travels across the globe from China to Brazil. American firm Cargill, which is chartering the vessel, said this is the first time sails of this size have been fitted to a cargo ship and tested in the real world.

The rigid, foldable sails were designed by British company BAR Technologies, a spin-off from the 2017 UK team of America’s Cup, a world-famous sailing competition often dubbed the ‘Formula One of the Seas’. 

Each sail is 37.5 metres tall and mainly made from fibreglass, the same material as wind turbine blades. And like wind turbines, they are also designed to slash carbon emissions. By assisting a cargo ship’s engines, the WindWings could cut diesel fuel consumption by up to 30%. 

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

“Get four wings on a vessel, that’s six tonnes of fuel saved, that’s 20 tonnes of CO2 saved – per day. The numbers are massive,” John Cooper, BAR’s CEO, told the BBC.  

Globally, shipping accounts for 3% of greenhouse gas emissions – more than the entire aviation industry. But shipping is notoriously hard to decarbonise because most ships today are built to run on diesel fuel, and alternatives like hydrogen or batteries are not yet viable.  

WindWings, which is co-funded by the EU’s Horizon programme, is a particularly attractive option because it enables shipping companies to retrofit their existing fleet and cut emissions right now. 

“Ultimately we do need zero-carbon fuels on all ships, but in the meantime, it is imperative to make every journey as efficient as possible,” Dr Simon Bullock, shipping researcher at the University of Manchester also told the BBC.

Elsewhere, similar wind-based vessel projects are already underway. Earlier this year, Swedish company Oceanbird began construction on a set of 40-metre high, 200 metric-ton sails to be retrofitted on the 14-year-old car carrier, Wallenius Tirranna.

Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten also revealed a concept design for its very first zero-emission ship in June. The ship will be battery-powered with energy supplemented from three 40-metre solar panel-covered sails. It is scheduled to depart in 2030.  

In the meantime, during its estimated six-week journey, the Pyxis Ocean’s sails will be closely monitored in the hopes of scaling the technology across both the Cargill fleet, and the shipping industry at large.

Cargo ship retrofitted with ‘WindWings’ charters course for greener voyages Read More »

chip-designer-arm-files-for-public-listing-that-could-revive-flat-ipo-market

Chip designer Arm files for public listing that could revive flat IPO market

Corporates and innovation, Ecosystems, Investors and funding / /

Chip designer Arm has filed for an initial public offering, which is expected to be the biggest IPO of the year.

The UK-based company announced on Monday that it’s applied to sell shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US — a move that is a big blow to its home country. Arm is reportedly eyeing a valuation of between $60bn (€55bn) to $70bn (€64bn).

The lofty target stems from the ubiquity and efficiency of Arm’s semiconductor architectures — particularly in mobile devices. Arm estimates that more than 99% of the world’s smartphones use Arm-based chips.

In recent years, however, this market has shrunk, leading Arm to further expand into different markets, such as AI, automotive, and cloud computing.

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

In the IPO filing, Arm was bullish about the prospects for growth:

“We estimate that approximately 70% of the world’s population uses Arm-based products, and the scale of Arm’s reach continues to expand, with more than 30 billion Arm-based chips reported as shipped in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023 alone, representing an approximately 70% increase since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016.”

The listing comes a year after the collapse of a $40bn (€36.7bn) takeover of Arm by Nvidia.

In 2020, Nvidia agreed to buy Arm from SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate that has owned the British company since 2016. The acquisition would have been the most expensive ever deal between chip companies, but it was terminated amid scrutiny from regulators. Softbank chose to pursue the IPO instead.

The filing arrives in a largely dormant IPO market. Tech valuations have plummeted during the economic downturn, with higher inflation and interest rates spooking potential investors. If successful, the Arm listing could give the market a valuable bounce. It would also provide a big boost for Softbank, which last year posted a $32bn loss at its Vision Fund investment arm.

Published

Back to top

Chip designer Arm files for public listing that could revive flat IPO market Read More »

lamborghini’s-new-electric-car-concept-was-inspired-by-spaceships

Lamborghini’s new electric car concept was inspired by spaceships

Corporates and innovation, Ecosystems / /

Lamborghini unveiled its first concept for an all-electric grand tourer last week, as it becomes the latest carmaker to hop on the battery-powered bandwagon.     

The Lanzador looks strikingly different to the iconic low-slung two-seaters supercars for which Lamborghini is famous. The muscular, angled look coupled with high-ground clearance makes it more of a hulky crossover than a supercar. 

The bulk is to accommodate for the large “new generation high-performance” floor-mounted battery packs which will power the car’s two electric motors. A peak output of over one megawatt (equivalent to 1,341 horsepower) will make the Lanzador the most powerful Lambo ever. 

Exactly how fast it will be is unclear at this point. The Italian carmaker is being hush-hush about details like range, battery, charging capacity, or even zero to 60mph acceleration.

What we do know is that the EV won’t just be road-legal but “a grand tourer designed for daily duties and longer journeys.” Equipped with four seats that can be moved or folded away for extra storage, you might even be able to do the school run or go grocery shopping…in a Lamborghini.  

The Lanzador will constitut a link between Lamborghini’s supercars and its more practical SUV, the Urus. It also draws inspiration from spaceships, with the driver meant to feel like an astronaut or jet pilot when behind the wheel.

“With Lanzador we are looking into our future without forgetting our DNA,” said Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini’s CEO.  

“Significantly” more sensors and actuators will be integrated into the EV’s dynamic driving control to ensure the smoothest ride possible. The Lanzador’s algorithmic computer uses data to deliver a nuanced driving experience that improves over time. 

“This allows the driving character to be more precisely differentiated to the individual driver than ever before: information delivered back to the driver by intelligent sensors positioned behind the new ‘pilot’s’ glass panels mounted at the front of the car, giving a taste of future radar technology,” said Lamborghini in a statement. 

Inside the car, the driver and passenger sit in a frame-like bucket seat insulated with 3D-printed foam. The rear seats can be folded down to accommodate luggage. And there’s even a front truck that can fit a specially-made bag.

Lamborghini is also committing to more sustainable materials, with recycled nylon and plastics as well as regenerated carbon fibre adorning some of the interior. The automaker claims its leather and wool procurement is sustainable and produced using renewable energy.  

Unlike previous Lamborghini concepts, Winkelmann insists that the Lanzador is a concrete view of what’s to come. The Lanzador will be Lamborghini’s first all-electric vehicle, and will join the Revuelto, Hurcan, and Urus as the fourth model in its lineup. It is slated to enter production in 2028.