- Official rebranding for the start of automated series production of electrolyzer stacks at new factory on September 30, 2024
- Ambitious goal: avoiding one percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 2050
- New Gigahub in Hamburg, Germany, to become an international beacon for green hydrogen
Hydrogen specialist H-TEC SYSTEMS is becoming Quest One. With its rebranding on September 30, the company is underlining the importance of its own ambitious goal: By 2050, it aims to avoid one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions through the use of its own electrolyzers and make a decisive contribution to climate protection.
The official rebranding coincides with the opening of a new production site in Hamburg, Germany, in September. With the completion of the new “Gigahub,” the company is starting automated series production of electrolysis stacks – the technological heart of an electrolyzer.
Quest One: avoiding one percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
Robin von Plettenberg, CEO of H-TEC SYSTEMS: “With Quest One, we have found a name that gets to the heart of our work. We want to avoid one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – which is why we are focusing on hydrogen, the first element in the periodic table. This mammoth task is a true quest and hugely motivating for us. We want to develop Quest One into one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electrolyzers and help shape the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. With our new name, we are underlining this international ambition and putting climate protection at the center.”
For green hydrogen to become a reliable alternative to fossil fuels, it must be available in large quantities and at competitive prices in the future. The climate-neutral conversion of industry – due to its high energy requirements – will be an important area of application for hydrogen, which is produced with the help of electrolyzers where so-called stacks are installed. Here, energy becomes an element – and water becomes oxygen and hydrogen with the help of renewable electricity. PEM electrolysis, which is based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology, is one of the most important processes for industrially scaled hydrogen production using renewable energies. With the start of industrial series production of electrolyzers, it should be possible to meet the large future demand for green hydrogen. As a pioneer in the industry, H-TEC SYSTEMS already has over 25 years of experience in this field, with several dozen systems in operation in Europe.
Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions SE, says: “The rebranding of H-TEC SYSTEMS into Quest One marks the beginning of a new era. When we acquired H-TEC SYSTEMS in 2019, the company had a start-up character: around 40 employees produced top-quality electrolyzers in a manufacturing operation. Since then, the number of employees has increased more than tenfold and we are building the most modern stack production facility in Europe. Today, H-TEC SYSTEMS is a leading driver of the hydrogen transition, for which international business is also becoming increasingly important. This impressive development is reflected in the new name, Quest One.”
New Gigahub will play a key role in accomplishing the one percent mission
One milestone is the opening of the new, state-of-the-art production and development site in Hamburg on September 30. The new Gigahub will facilitate the automated series production of stacks with a potential total electrolysis capacity of over five gigawatts annually at full capacity. These stacks will be developed and produced at the new site in the Hanseatic city. Previously, many of these manufacturing steps have been performed manually. With the automation of production at the Gigahub, up to 75 percent of the current production time can be saved. Around 200 employees will work at the Gigahub location in the areas of production, development, testing and service. The finished stacks and electrolyzers will then be assembled at the company’s Augsburg site in southern Germany by a team of more than 350 employees using the automotive assembly principle. Since the beginning of 2024, H-TEC SYSTEMS has been active in the US market, where it is building up local supply chains.
Technological excellence, industrial scalability, solid financing
Launched in 1997 as a research project, H-TEC SYSTEMS is today considered a specialist in the field of PEM electrolysis. MAN Energy Solutions has been the majority shareholder of H-TEC SYSTEMS since 2021 and has pledged financing of up to 500 million euros for the coming years. As a subsidiary of MAN Energy Solutions and part of the Volkswagen Group, H-TEC SYSTEMS will also be able to draw upon the enormous expertise of both groups as Quest One in the future: Both through MAN Energy Solutions' global sales network and experience in major heavy industry projects, as well as via direct access to the Volkswagen Group’s expertise in the area of production scaling and in the supplier-based series business.
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