Renewable Energy HH Cluster Agency extends contract with Managing Director Jan Rispens by five years Renewable Energy Hamburg has gained many more members and expanded its remit since 2021

The Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster Agency (EEHH) is pleased to announce that its contract with the Managing Director of Erneuerbare Energien Hamburg Clusteragentur GmbH (EEHH GmbH), Jan Rispens, has been prematurely extended by five years until early 2029. Jan Rispens has been Managing Director of the Cluster Agency since it was founded in 2010. During this time, he has driven the development of the industry network in the Metropolitan Region of Hamburg in terms of content and organisation.

The Cluster Agency has brought together most of the stakeholders in the region’s renewable energy industry within its network and its membership numbers have continued to rise, even during the pandemic. Since the Cluster Agency was commissioned by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg to establish a new segment for the development of a hydrogen economy in 2021, its membership has risen from around 180 to the current 250.

A large number of hydrogen companies and/or Cluster Agency members have moved to Hamburg in the past two years or initiated major projects. These include Air Products and Mabanaft, who announced their intention to build a hydrogen import terminal at the port of Hamburg at the end of November 2022. In April 2023, a groundbreaking ceremony for a stack production facility took place at H-Tech-Systems in Hamburg-Rahlstedt. The automotive supplier, Conti Tech, opened a hydrogen technology centre in Hamburg-Harburg in 2023. The Northern German Living Lab project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action has been running since late 2021 with 50 partners from business and science. Hamburger Hafen and Logistik AG’s Clean Port Logistics Cluster is working on solutions for hydrogen-powered heavy goods vehicles and terminal equipment with funding from the Federal Ministry for Transport and Digital.

From October 2024, the leading hydrogen technology trade fair organised by the UK events company, TransGlobal, will take place in Hamburg for the first time. Hamburg Messe und Congress GmbH aims to expand this into a leading international trade fair in parallel to WindEnergy Hamburg. The Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster Agency is advising the organisers with regard to content.

Hamburg’s Senator for Economic Affairs and Innovation, Dr Melanie Leonhard, Chair of the EEHH GmbH Supervisory Board, says: “Northern Germany has a huge locational advantage thanks to its abundance of renewable energies. Production at sea, on the coast and on land is in high demand in the Metropolitan Region of Hamburg: the opportunities and availability of renewable energies are helping to advance the industrial location, not only in terms of supply security, but also with regard to decarbonisation. Excellent networking within the industry and with other stakeholders provides considerable assistance with this – and we have further major tasks ahead of us, including network expansion and the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy! The EEHH Cluster Agency and its Managing Director, Jan Rispens, will continue to be a reliable contact for this.”

Sebastian Averdung, Chairman of the Board of the Erneuerbare Energien Hamburg e.V. Cluster Agency (EEHH e.V.) and Deputy Chair of the EEHH GmbH Supervisory Board: “Our industry has undergone significant transformation since 2011. In addition to the production of onshore and offshore wind energy, solar energy on both a small and large scale and progressively renewable heating supply, our industry is increasingly shaped by digitalisation and sector coupling. Without digitalisation, the integration of millions of production systems is not possible. Without sector coupling, industrial decarbonisation would not be successful. Jan Rispens has had the foresight to continually shape these developments for and with the industry. The EEHH e.V. Board is therefore extremely pleased that he will be supporting the next stages of the energy transformation, together with the Cluster Agency.”

Jan Rispens: “I’m delighted to be able to support the extremely exciting stage of the energy transition over the coming years, together with the EEHH Cluster Agency. Now, our main task is to quickly multiply the expansion of renewables. Wind energy, in particular, must recover from the decline of recent years by means of improved and above all faster approval processes. The wind industry bundled in Hamburg can provide important impetus for this. In the case of solar energy, we aim to help systematically develop the potential in the city of Hamburg, as the amount of electricity produced in the city could be substantial. In terms of the hydrogen economy, we’re on the cusp of the initial market ramp-up – our Cluster Agency members can play an important pioneering role in both the Metropolitan Region of Hamburg and nationwide.”

The EEHH Cluster Agency was founded in 2010 with 57 members from EEHH e.V. and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. As of today, the Cluster Agency has around 250 members from the wind and solar energy, renewable heat generation, sector coupling, digitalisation, logistics and (green) energy economy sectors from the entire Metropolitan Region of Hamburg. EEHH GmbH is the operational unit of the EEHH Cluster Agency and its shareholders are the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (51 percent) and EEHH e.V. (49 percent)