“Hydrogen holds a huge potential for the energy transition and for RWE. We are now acknowledging its significance by creating a separate portfolio for hydrogen within the Executive Board as the central hydrogen hub at RWE. In Sopna Sury we have found a manager, who will put all her energy into developing this technology of the future on the Board of RWE Generation.”
Pooling competencies, driving existing projects forward, seeking new opportunities, forming alliances – in order to achieve these goals, RWE is setting up a new hydrogen business unit within RWE Generation, which will be led by Dr. Sopna Sury (46) as a Member of RWE Generation’s Executive Board from 1 February 2021. The new unit is responsible for developing and implementing the RWE hydrogen strategy and will promote the respective projects in RWE’s core markets.
Sopna Sury studied economics at Witten/Herdecke University before starting her professional career at McKinsey. From 2011 onwards, she held various positions at E.ON, where she was in charge of the company’s renewables strategy. After a spell at Uniper, where she was responsible for technical services sales and participation management of gas infrastructure, she joined RWE Renewables where she is currently leading the Strategy and Regulatory Affairs division.
RWE is positioned extremely well along the entire value chain for green hydrogen. RWE Renewables – the number two in offshore wind in the world – can supply green electricity for the production process. RWE Generation has the expertise to generate green hydrogen in electrolysers. RWE Gas Storage can temporarily store hydrogen in its gas storage facilities and the energy traders at RWE Supply & Trading will make the fuel available for industrial customers as required.
“We are in a perfect position to play a leading role in hydrogen. With our new business unit, we ensure to fully leverage this advantage. We are very much looking forward to working with Sopna Sury”, emphasises Roger Miesen, CEO at RWE Generation.
In collaboration with other well-known companies and scientific institutions, RWE is currently driving more than 30 hydrogen projects in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Only two weeks ago, the company announced that it is joining the NortH2 consortium, which was set up to develop one of the largest hydrogen projects for Northwest Europe in the northern part of the Netherlands. And in Lingen, RWE is part of GET H2, currently the largest hydrogen project in Germany. In collaboration with its partners, the company is planning to build an electrolyser with a capacity of 100 MW at the RWE power plant site in Lingen, in the state of Lower Saxony.