HySociety: hydrogen network for government, business and education
Globally, the effects of climate change are being noticed through changing temperatures, drought or, on the contrary, heavier rainfall. To counteract this climate change, international agreements have been made to limit temperature rises that require greater use of renewable energy. Hydrogen as an energy carrier is seen as one of the solutions to this and is currently being widely used. Several Hydrogen Valleys are being developed in Europe, fully functioning green hydrogen chains. In this respect, the Northern Netherlands has been declared Europe’s first Hydrogen Valley and the experiences gained during development will serve as an example for the rest of Europe.
In developing this first Hydrogen Valley in Europe, the region’s governments, businesses and educational institutions are working on projects, research, training hydrogen professionals and retraining professionals. In order to inform all professionals involved of the various initiatives, put them in a position to learn from each other and work together, the HySociety was set up on the initiative of New Energy Coalition. A network for government, industry and education that meets regularly. “Developing a Hydrogen Valley brings great opportunities for the region in terms of growth, innovation and employment. To make good use of these opportunities, cooperation and informing each other is extremely important. As New Energy Coalition, one of our core tasks is to bring parties together and work together to accelerate the energy transition. With the HySociety, we have set up a network and offer hydrogen professionals from government, business and education the opportunity to network with each other, gain knowledge and learn from each other,” says Marieke Abbink-Pellenbarg, CEO New Energy Coalition.
HySociety is one of the activities from the Waterstof Werkt program, with Jogchem Meinema serving as project leader on behalf of New Energy Coalition. Jogchem: “With Waterstof Werkt, we are realizing a continuous learning line in the region in the field of hydrogen with education, training and courses at secondary vocational education, higher vocational education, university and post-initial level. Good cooperation and a coordinated approach is essential for this. HySociety ensures that hydrogen professionals from different disciplines come together in an informal way, to meet, network and stay informed about current hydrogen developments in the Northern Netherlands. Because we see the importance of strengthening this network, in the Northern Netherlands but also beyond, we are happy to contribute to this as a program.” Meanwhile, there have been three HySociety meetings with a total of nearly 200 visitors at which various professionals have shared something from the field. For example, RWE gave a presentation on the successful tender for the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust West, Willem Hazenberg gave an insight into the Hydrogen Practorate at Drenthe College, Jacco Everts explained the traineeship that New Energy Coalition has set up together with VONK, and Cas König, CEO of Groningen Seaports, took the hydrogen professionals through ‘the Future of Groningen’. “I am very enthusiastic about the HySociety meetings that have taken place so far. There have been inspiring presentations, the reactions from attendees have been very positive and we have been able to bring people together for knowledge exchange or even a possible collaboration. I am looking forward to the next HySociety meeting this fall. We are busy organizing and putting together an interesting and inspiring program,” Jogchem concludes.
Are you interested in participating in HySociety? Then contact Jogchem Meinema.
