Sunday Workshops

Three exclusive workshops will be held the day before the conference, Sunday afternoon, August 24!

• The workshops will be held at Fraunhofer ISE.
• Participants can select one of the workshops as part of their conference registration.
• Only those who have purchased a workshop ticket at the time of registration will be able to attend the workshop.
• Please note that workshop seats are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Workshop attendees will have the opportunity to pick up their conference badges on Sunday, potentially saving time at the conference venue on Monday morning.
• Light refreshments will be served after the workshops.

Workshop: CCM Production Research for Membrane Electrolysis

This interactive workshop will showcase the most recent developments in the production of the heart of PEM and AEM electrolysers. Highly profound experts from academia and industry will share their experiences, insights, and lessons learned. We will focus on the practice and challenges of CCM production with a discussion from different perspectives: machine, CCM and stack manufacturers (such as Siemens Energy, Optima, Ionysis, Evonik, and others)  will give their insights. Join us for talks and lively world-café discussion rounds about e.g. scaling up AEM production, low loading CCMs and quality control.

This workshop is specifically designed for professionals from industry.

Workshop for Young Scientists: Career Paths in Hydrogen

There is no single “right” path in hydrogen. This interactive workshop will showcase the diverse opportunities in hydrogen from three unique perspectives. Wiebke Lüke (entrepreneur), Merit Bodner (professor), and Tobias Schuler (industry expert) will share their experiences, insights, and lessons learned. Join us for a fireside talk, speed networking, and an open Q&A!

This workshop is aimed at young scientists and early-career researchers.

Workshop leaders:

• Dr. Wiebke Lüke studied chemistry at the University of Oldenburg and completed her doctorate at RWTH Aachen University. She has more than 12 years of experience in the fields of H2 and PtX technologies and in the management of publicly funded large-scale projects. As founder and managing director of WEW GmbH, she is responsible for product development and marketing.

• Dr. Tobias Schuler earned his master’s degree in chemical engineering at the Technical University of Munich (GER) and received his PhD in the field of PEM electrolysis and X-ray computed tomography at ETH Zurich (CH) and PSI (CH). Before joining the Robert Bosch GmbH as a key expert for electrolysis, he worked as a postdoc and later staff scientist at the U.S. national lab NREL. He is currently leading a LT-electrolysis activity at Bosch central research in Germany as a R&D manager with 10 years of expertise in electrochemical engineering and industrial scale hydrogen technologies.

• Prof. Merit Bodner joined the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology at Graz University of Technology in 2021 as an Assistant Professor, following four years in the European fuel cell industry. She received the Hydrogen Europe Research Young Scientist Award in the “Hydrogen Usages” category in 2022. With a background in Chemistry and a doctorate in Chemical and Process Engineering, Merit Bodner has dedicated her research to improving usability, reliability and durability of fuel cells and electrolysers since 2011, with particular focus on translating fundamental learnings into real life application.

Workshop: Green Hydrogen

Green hydrogen is set to play an important role in the energy transition, but its reasonable application is the subject of much controversy. On the one hand, molecular based energy carriers are completely rejected because their production by electrolysis is too inefficient and too expensive (all electric world), on the other hand, hydrogen is seen as the universal solution in all applications.

In this workshop, we want to consider and discuss the different perspectives on the use of green hydrogen. As an introduction, Richard Hanke-Rauschenbach (Professor at Leibnitz University Hannover) will present the potential fields of application of hydrogen in an overview talk, discuss the special requirements and explain the technical advantages and disadvantages. 

We will then discuss the various possible applications in different countries in an interactive format via World Cafés. What are the so-called “no-regret” applications, are there global differences, what impact does green hydrogen production have in these countries and can blue hydrogen be a good transitional solution as a bridging technology.

This workshop is aimed at researchers and academics.

The Workshop is held by a scientist tandem, Tom Smolinka and Richard Hanke-Rauschenbach. 

Workshop leaders:

• Hanke-Rauschenbach is Professor for Electrical Energy Storage Systems and Head of the Institute for Electrical Energy Systems at Leibniz University Hannover. He studied Energy Engineering in Leipzig. He then worked as a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems in Magdeburg. In 2007, he completed his doctorate in the field of fuel cells at the University of Magdeburg. He has been a professor in the above-mentioned position since 2014. He is co-author of over 120 articles in international journals. His current fields of work include water electrolysis in the context of power-to-gas applications, the design of stationary energy systems with a particular focus on techno-economic and ecological aspects of the defossilisation of the electricity, heating and mobility sectors, the design of vehicle energy systems for the use of renewable energies in road mobility, shipping and aviation and the techno-economic evaluation of business models in the areas of flexibility for the electricity system and hydrogen production. Hanke-Rauschenbach is a member of the AFC TCP Annex-Group 30 "Water Electrolysis" of the International Energy Agency (IEA) since 2017. Furthermore, he is the initiator of the Lower Saxony Hydrogen Research Network and has been its spokesperson since 2019.
• Tom Smolinka got his diploma in ‘Energy and Process Engineering’ at the Technical University of Berlin / Germany in 2000 and received his PhD degree from the University of Ulm in 2005. Since his studies he works at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg / Germany in the Division ‘Hydrogen Technologies’ in the field of PEM fuel cells and water electrolysis and built up in 2008 the Group ‘Alternative Hydrogen Production’ at the institute dealing among others with chemical hydrides, water electrolysis and redox flow batteries. In 2013 he established the Department ‘Electrolysis and Hydrogen Infrastructure’ which conducts today research and development mainly in the fields of membrane water electrolysis (PEM and AEM), solar hydrogen production and techno-economic analysis of power to gas systems and hydrogen infrastructure. He is engaged in several national and international activities on water electrolysis and holds a teaching position at the University of Freiburg in the master’s programme ‘Sustainable System Engineering’.