Can This Man Solve Europe’s Energy Conundrum?

TES is attracting investors and announced in July that it had raised €65 million in its second fund-raising drive. Part of the appeal, supporters say, is that Germany and Europe will need to import alternatives to the Russian gas and other fuels that they are trying to phase out because of climate change and geopolitical concerns.

Governments in Europe and elsewhere are gearing up to spend huge sums to support hydrogen — even though how it will be made, transported and used is less than clear. Mr. Alverà’s plan, some say, offers a pathway.

“We have to get into something,” said Patrick Lammers, a chief operating officer of E.ON, a large German utility, which needs to figure out how it is going to supply millions of customers across Europe.

E.ON is putting some of its chips on Mr. Alverà’s project for several reasons, including Wilhelmshaven’s promise as an entry route into Germany’s industrial heartland. TES offers a fuel that is “not a very different technology” from liquefied natural gas, Mr. Lammers said, and so won’t require much adjustment.

The initiative received a boost on Wednesday when Fortescue Future Industries, which is controlled by Andrew Forrest, an Australian mining tycoon who has become a green energy advocate, said it would invest €130 million in TES and the Wilhelmshaven terminal. The two companies agreed to develop facilities in as-yet-unnamed locations that would furnish enough hydrogen to power more than one million homes.

“We both believe this is going to be a massive industry, that it is going to take fossil fuels out at some point,” said Mark Hutchinson, the Australian company’s chief executive.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/11/business/green-natural-gas.html