Hydrogen ambassador for Groningen

This month, hydrogen ambassador Professor Ad van Wijk started at New Energy Coalition his assignment to maintain and further strengthen the position of the Northern Netherlands as the hydrogen region. Together with Gasunie and the Province of Groningen, New Energy Coalition brought Van Wijk to Groningen to work on the region’s hydrogen ambitions. Van Wijk has been advocating the benefits of a northern hydrogen economy for some time now; he is therefore seen as the ideal ambassador on this topic.

Van Wijk, part-time professor of Future Energy Systems at TU Delft, will work for two days a week on creating the best conditions for shaping  the northern hydrogen economy. He will work on a hydrogen roadmap that will include advice, European subsidies and overviews of legal frameworks and required adjustments to existing legislation and regulations. Van Wijk will also work on a thematic programme to get the many hydrogen projects in the North going. Van Wijk: “The Northern Netherlands has a unique position to be one of the first to develop the green hydrogen economy in Europe.”

Ambassador
Van Wijk is known as a proponent of a northern hydrogen economy and is well-connected to governments, knowledge institutions and companies. As a part-time professor of Future Energy Systems he has a broad and in-depth knowledge of energy systems and also has extensive experience with large-scale renewable energy and industry. In addition, as former CEO of Econcern, Van Wijk has extensive experience in investments in renewable energy and the development of the Dutch energy sector. Altogether, it makes him the right man to give the northern hydrogen ambitions the right impulses.

Gertjan Lankhorst, Managing Director of New Energy Coalition: “We are pleased that professor van Wijk can continue his efforts to get the hydrogen economy going in a position with New Energy Coalition. This is another important step towards further developing Groningen as the knowledge centre of the energy transition.”