ITM Power’s German subsidiary, ITM Power GmbH, has signed a lease on a new larger premises to accommodate both business development staff and technical support personnel.
ITM Power GmbH has been based near Frankfurt am Main since its incorporation in July 2011 and will now occupy new premises in Hungen, north of Frankfurt.
The new premises in Hungen will be the base for the existing three staff as well as a number of new hires to support the company’s growing operations in Germany. It will also provide a base, for the first time, for technical staff engaged in supporting the Group’s projects in the important German market.
These projects include the 10MW green hydrogen (H2) refinery project with Shell, a Power-to-Gas PEM electrolyser system being operated by Innogy, an electrolyser system supplied to ZEAG Energie, housed in a purpose-built building at a DLR site, as well as three other plants in Germany and Holland.
Key to operations in Germany will be a store of strategic spares and the creation of an after-sales support function which will be further enlarged as new contracts are completed.
ITM Power GmbH currently is responsible for Maintenance Contracts of €33,000 per annum which will increase, over the next year, to approximately €450,000 per annum as the new projects are commissioned and fall under the after-sales support provisions.
The technical sales and project management teams in Sheffield have also recruited German personnel to optimise customer support to the German speaking market and to streamline the tendering process and design team liaison with Germany.
Commenting on the expansion, Calum McConnell, Managing Director of ITM Power GmbH, said, “The German speaking market for hydrogen energy systems is already very strong with many new industrial players entering and actively engaging with ITM Power GmbH.”
“Recognising this positive trend – and because we are building the world’s largest PEM electrolyser in Germany – we now feel able to justify significant expansion. I am confident about our offering and its fit to the German market.”
Commenting on the expansion, Graham Cooley, ITM Power’s CEO, said, “Germany, as an early adopter of H2 systems, has for many years been an important market for ITM Power.”
“Our scale of operations there, existing and planned, means we are now taking the natural step of adding technical staff alongside our business development team.”
“With the upward trend in the market, the general acceptance across the political, energy and industrial landscape that H2 will play a significant role in reducing CO2 emissions, it is the obvious time to expand our footprint in a market that will remain key to our plans for growth.”
