Transitioning Global Energy!
The energy sector is undergoing a crucial transition, moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to address the global climate crisis. As reliance on traditional fossil energy forms like coal, oil, and gas becomes increasingly unsustainable, the industry is exploring innovative solutions such as hydrogen to meet the growing energy demand while reducing carbon emissions. Green hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, represents a promising avenue for achieving significant emission reductions and energy security. This evolution is not just about adopting new technologies but also about rethinking how energy is produced, stored, and utilized across various sectors.
Nora Oberländer, Head of Business Development, plays an important role in shaping this transformative journey. With a deep understanding of engineering and a passion for renewable technologies, she is leading efforts to decarbonize various sectors by integrating green hydrogen into energy systems. Nora’s leadership is defined by her commitment to innovation and her ability to inspire her team to push the boundaries of what is possible in the industry. Her vision is clear: to make green hydrogen a viable and widespread solution for reducing carbon emissions, particularly in sectors where electrification alone is insufficient.
At STOFF2, where Nora leads the business development efforts, the focus is on advancing green hydrogen technology to make it more affordable and efficient. The company’s pioneering approach combines energy storage and hydrogen production, offering a unique solution that addresses the challenges of energy storage, continuous hydrogen production and renewable energy utilization. Through these innovations, STOFF2 aims to accelerate the global shift towards sustainable energy and establish itself as a leader in the global green hydrogen industry.
Let’s explore Nora’s inventive leadership journey in the energy sector:
Transitioning from Fossil Fuels to Renewable Molecules
Nora has always been fascinated by how engineering and new technologies can improve people’s lives. While studying mechanical engineering and business, she realized the crucial role of energy in every aspect of modern life. However, the dependence on fossil fuels is unsustainable, underscoring the urgent need to shift to renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydropower.
Starting her career in the solar industry, she quickly recognized the challenge of aligning renewable energy production with demand, highlighting the need for effective energy storage solutions. Technologies such as hydrogen and batteries are essential: hydrogen for storing large amounts of energy over long periods and batteries for smaller, shorter-term needs. These technologies complement each other across different applications.
Her motivation lies in decarbonizing industries, energy systems, chemical processes, and the mobility sector. What many people don’t realize is that most of our current energy consumption—about 80%—comes from molecules, not electrons. This means there is a need to transition from “grey” molecules from coal, oil and gas to “green” molecules produced from renewable sources like green hydrogen. While electrification is essential wherever possible, not all processes and applications can be fully electrified. For Nora, the exciting part is that the technology to produce green hydrogen—electrolyzers—already exists; it just needs to be scaled.
Growing the Business Development Team
As the Head of Business Development at STOFF2, Nora’s key responsibilities include understanding customers’ use cases and collaborating with them on developing projects. Customers range from hydrogen project developers to solar and wind energy operators, industrial players, and utilities. She also focuses on growing the business development team, improving efficiency with tools like CRM systems, and contributing to strategy development within the management team.
The green hydrogen industry is still in its early stages and faces challenges, particularly in becoming cost competitive with grey hydrogen. STOFF2 is addressing this challenge with an innovative product that combines the functions of a battery and an electrolyzer in one device. This offers a completely new way to operate an electrolyzer system with fluctuating renewable energies like wind and solar while providing green hydrogen reliable 24/7 to customers. The system uses green energy when it is available at low prices. By making green hydrogen more affordable, STOFF2 is helping to scale the industry and contribute to the decarbonization of various sectors.
Authentic Leadership and Team Support
Nora believes in authentic leadership that focuses on supporting and fostering the strengths of each team member. The team’s success depends on everyone’s courage to act while keeping sight of the bigger picture. To achieve this, clear goals are set for the year, progress is regularly reviewed, and active engagement in giving and receiving feedback is encouraged. Promoting a constructive feedback culture within a team makes all the difference, viewing feedback as a gift rather than a complaint.
She believes that leadership is about values and the principles one chooses to emphasize. In her case, her leadership values are transparency, empathy, authenticity, accountability, and a sense of fun—because she believes there should always be room for fun and time for team building as the team grows together.
Transitioning Industries to Green Hydrogen
At STOFF2, Nora and her team developed a technology that enables industries to transition from fossil fuels such as gas and oil to green hydrogen, which has the potential to decarbonize 20% of global emissions. Producing green hydrogen requires green energy, yet much of this energy is currently curtailed due to the overproduction of solar and wind power during low demand periods. The zinc-intermediate-step electrolysis technology (in German: ZZE – Zink- Zwischenschritt-Elektrolyseur) solves this by storing excess energy and producing green hydrogen on demand for specific applications.
STOFF2 produces hydrogen that is secure, cost-effective, and green. It’s green because renewable energy is used to charge the device, cost-effective because lower or negative electricity prices are taken advantage of during hours of intensive renewable power generation, and secure because energy is stored in the form of solid zinc instead of hydrogen in its gaseous form.
Nora is particularly excited about the EU-funded renewable energy flagship valley (short REFORMERS project) in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, as part of the Horizon Europe ambitions. This project connects an existing wind and solar park with a hydrogen refueling station for heavy-duty vehicles in Alkmaar, involving 28 EU partners and setting the stage for six more replication valleys to be built in the future.
In Germany, STOFF2 announced another flagship project in Braunschweig in Lower Saxony with a partner called Siz Energieplus to provide green hydrogen for testing fuel cells and for a hydrogen refueling station. This will be the first STOFF2 electrolyzer in a commercial, industrial setting and is a major milestone on the technology development roadmap. Overall, progress is being made, and projects are advancing rapidly. What STOFF2 needs now is speed and scale to accelerate decarbonization!
Integrating Grey Hydrogen Expertise with New Innovations
Nora highlights a few years ago, green hydrogen was hardly discussed, but now it is a major topic, especially because of the energy crisis in Germany and across Europe. This crisis underscored the importance of energy independence for national development. The green hydrogen industry offers a crucial piece of the puzzle for achieving this independence.
Around the world the hydrogen industry currently relies on grey hydrogen, with around 95 million metric tons used annually, mainly produced from natural gas. To transition to green hydrogen, it is necessary to integrate this existing expertise with innovations. This requires “sector coupling,” where the traditionally separate energy, industry, mobility, and heat sectors must collaborate more closely. While this sounds straightforward, it presents significant practical challenges.
Nora believes that continuous learning is vital in this rapidly changing technical, political, economic, and regulatory landscape, so keeping informed through industry news, events, and webinars and making time for knowledge intake daily is essential for keeping pace with these changes.
Balancing Passion for Green Hydrogen and Personal Well-Being
Nora admitted that maintaining a balance can be challenging at times. However, Nora’s passion for the green hydrogen industry and the potential to make a meaningful impact is what drives her every day. It is incredibly motivating to be at the forefront of a field that is shaping the future in a positive direction. Outside of her professional life, she finds balance through her love for water sports.
This passion, developed during her university years, provides the perfect counterpoint to her intellectual pursuits. There is nothing quite like the feeling of the wind in her ears while kitesurfing or the exhilaration of wakeboarding at a cable park after a long day of work. For her, it is the ultimate feeling of freedom, relaxation, and excitement.
According to Nora, while the green hydrogen industry requires continuous learning and dedication, balancing professional commitment with personal well-being enhances both individual growth and the collective ability to drive the transition to sustainable energy.
Embracing Enthusiasm and Optimism in Life
Kitesurfing and wakeboarding have taught Nora important lessons about teamwork, overcoming challenges, and building a vision. In a sport like kitesurfing, the journey is all about persistence—failing, getting back up, and pushing yourself to try again and again. To master a new trick or jump higher, you must embrace failure as part of the process and rise above the obstacles. This mirrors the professional world, where developing a project often requires resilience in the face of setbacks and the determination to keep moving forward.
More broadly, water sports have shaped Nora’s perspective on life by reinforcing the idea that passion and commitment are key to achieving success. They remind her that with the right mindset, perseverance, and support, anything is possible. This outlook not only drives her approach to work but also inspires her to approach life with enthusiasm, optimism, and a belief that only the sky is the limit.
Adapting to Change for Continued Success
Innovation is at the core of everything STOFF2 does, from technology development to process improvement. As an agile scale-up, the biggest advantage is the ability to innovate quickly without the lengthy bureaucratic processes or legacy investments that often hinder larger corporations.
It is vital for STOFF2 to capitalize on this agility to drive the company’s success. It is also recognized that staying innovative means being adaptable. When things change—and they do—there is no hesitation in incorporating this into the way of doing things. A crucial part of success is the commitment to fostering an innovative mindset throughout the company.
Insights for Young Professionals in the Hydrogen Industry
Nora’s advice to young professionals who are passionate about entering the hydrogen industry and making a positive impact on sustainability is to go for it! There is honestly no better time to jump into the green hydrogen industry. It is growing rapidly, and it needs passionate young professionals now more than ever. If someone wants to make a real difference in the world, this is the perfect career path.
There is also a strong need for more women in the hydrogen industry. Too often, she is one of the few women at events or on panels that needs to change. Some fantastic initiatives are out there, such as the “Women in Green Hydrogen” group, which is all about networking and education to support and connect women in this field. Nora highlights that it is essential to work together to make the hydrogen industry more diverse and inclusive.
Staying Competitive in a Globalized World
The goal of STOFF2 is to become the preferred global supplier of hybrid electrolyzers and energy storage devices, serving various markets and applications with cost-effective green hydrogen produced from excess green power. This vision includes establishing multiple production sites worldwide to supply regional projects, making STOFF2 a well-established technology leader in Germany, Europe and beyond.
