Burkhard Holder, CEO of VDE Renewables, chaired the sessions and welcomed the guests of Munich RE as guarantor, as well as RHEINEST - The System Change Foundation as investor based on new technologies.
Patrick Hinze, Head of Green Tech Solutions (Emerging), wants to mitigate the risk from the investors by covering the performance risk of plants and products. He explained “we need trust in the project to insure and finance it”.
Rudi Hilti, CEO of RHEINEST, described how investments in capable people lead to this trust, because their business plans can change but visionary people stay focused. This is extremely valuable in the field of renewables, with lots of obstacles from a developing industry, it’s important to support those that are willing to accept the challenge.
Stefan Garche, head of hydrogen technologies of VDE Renewables, elucidated the lessons learned and success stories from other related fields such as PV and batteries. Even if all aspects of other renewable industries can’t simply be transferred to the hydrogen value chain, new approaches become visible after every milestone is reached. As a neutral technology organisation, VDE Renewables demonstrates the potential to assess the technical risk of investments or reduce it from the outset.
The panel discussion finally continued with a well-filled audience on Friday afternoon. Investments in sunny foreign countries were discussed as well as risk minimisation through technical due diligence.
Burkhard Holder thanked the panel participants for giving a realistic picture of where we are standing now: “Even the most innovative projects in the hydrogen sector can have difficulties to get financed and insured. Therefore we need a holistic approach with all stakeholders at a round table in an early stage.”
On the Podium from left to right: Moderator Burkhard Holder, Patrick Hinze, Rudolf Hilti, Stefan Garche