During the annual energy symposium “Wind Meets Gas,” a Hydrogen Medal was presented by Ranomi Kromowidjojo to ENGIE Netherlands CEO Pierre Devillers.
Pierre Devillers’ career is an international ENGIE career, explicitly centered on energy and energy transition. Not surprisingly, as Country Manager ENGIE Netherlands, Pierre also became Vice President Group Transformation Office at ENGIE GROUP.
Where many “fossil companies” like to adorn itself with green feathers, ENGIE dares to pull the transition chariot and to lead the transition battle with courage. Pierre proves that a successful energy transition only succeeds when ambitious words are accompanied by ditto deeds.
The ambitious corporate claim ‘Zero Carbon Champion’ thus fits Pierre, ENGIE Nederland and ENGIE GROUP like a glove. By hanging our hydrogen medal on Pierre Devillers’ shoulders, as far as we are concerned this medal also lands on ENGIE’s corporate shoulders. ENGIE GROUP of course, but from Mission H2 with a special focus on ENGIE Netherlands. So triple deserved medal of honor.
Netherlands Hydrogen Country
Pierre Devillers sees the Netherlands, with its low North Sea, its seaports and infrastructure, as an ideal basis for a successful transition. So there is no reason for companies to hide behind government action. It is precisely in the Netherlands that zero CO2 should be perfectly feasible by 2045, he believes. A conviction that appeals to us.
ENGIE puts this into practice with a clear focus on green electrons from sea wind and green molecules, which are also used to get gas power plants, which will still be needed for decades, off the hook. In this sense, the group declares the fossil economy as finite and names its future position full and round as sustainable. A strategic game changer of stature.
Words and deeds
It appeals to the jury that ENGIE sets itself hard transition targets worldwide, but explicitly wants to achieve them in constructive partnerships. The fact that Holland Hydrogenland often functions as cross-border proof of this is another aspect that Mission H2 warmly welcomes. The Maxima Power Station in Lelystad is a fine example of this.
Another appealing example of ENGIE’s decisiveness here is HyNetherlands in Eemshaven, for which ENGIE quickly appointed a turnkey contractor, but at the same time entered into a serious partnership with Gasunie. Such bold action, in our view, keeps ENGIE at the forefront of the hydrogen transition. Or as Devillers puts it, “HyNetherlands’ ambition is to really increase its contribution to the decarbonization of industry and mobility in the Netherlands. That is why we are realizing in Eemshaven one of the first large-scale (1.85 GW by 2035) industrial green hydrogen chains in Europe.”
It is for this kind of ‘deed-in-hand’ that the jury unanimously awarded the Mission H2 Hydrogen Medal to convincing Zero Carbon Champion, Pierre Devillers of ENGIE. And what better stage for that than the annual international energy symposium Wind Meets Gas on October 12 this year?