So much nature and so few people. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the perfect place for anyone looking for relaxation. With its three national parks, six nature parks and three biosphere reserves, with the longest coastline in Germany, and thousands of lakes, the most sparsely populated federal state still offers plenty of space for flora and fauna to spread out.

The state's much-vaunted beauty and location has also influenced the economy to date. „We are primarily a tourist state, characterised by beautiful beaches- and also by agriculture and shipbuilding,“ says Peter Roessner, CEO of the Rostock-based hydrogen company H2Apex. „But we're not exactly known for large industrial players that have settled here and create added value.“

Roessner wants to change this with his company. H2Apex, based in Rostock-Laage, develops and operates hydrogen electrolysis plants that are used in the steel, chemical and cement industries, for example. The medium-sized company was acquired at the beginning of 2023 by the Luxembourg investment group Exceet, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and later also changed its name to H2Apex. The workforce has grown significantly since the transaction. „We now employ 150 people and have tripled in size in a year and a half,“ says Roessner. „To realise our plan for the future, we need to double again by the end of 2026.“

Roessner, born in Stralsund („the beautiful Hanseatic city and UNESCO World Heritage Site!“) in 1985, originally started his career in banking after studying business administration. But at some point he got bored, he explains. In 2017, with a little persuasion from his wife, he joined the Apex Group, whose founder Mathias Hehman he had met a few years earlier as one of his banking clients. „As a pioneer in the field of renewable energies, the Apex Group was already installing photovoltaic systems in Germany in 2000,“ recalls Roessner.

In 2019, he became CFO of the company, followed by his promotion to CEO in 2022 – to „Chief Explanation Officer“, as he likes to jokingly call himself. „I always explain to everyone what we do, even though I have no formal engineering background. Instead, I learnt everything along the way, so I'm basically a self-taught hydrogen engineer.“

As head of explanation, Roessner has also been regularly explaining what is probably the most important plan for H2Apex for some time now. Next year, the company wants to start building an electrolysis plant to produce more than 7,500 tonnes of green hydrogen per year. The plant is to be built at the main site in Rostock-Laage, and the federal government and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania intend to subsidise the project with 167 million euros. The funds are being channelled as part of an IPCEI project, in other words an „Important Project of Common European Interest“, which is intended to promote hydrogen infrastructure in the EU. The final investment decision is to be made at the beginning of next year and the plant will supply „significant quantities“ via pipelines to „all of Germany's urban centres“ from 2027.

Hydrogen is considered green if it is produced using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has a lot of it. In 2017, electricity generation from renewables already exceeded the state's electricity demand by around 70%. According to the „Hydrogen Energy Cluster Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania“, an association of various players in the hydrogen economy based in the state, on whose board Roessner also sits, MeckPomm is currently the most important producer region for green electricity.

However, Roessner does not just want to make this green electricity available to industry, much of which is located in the west and south-west of Germany, from afar with the help of hydrogen and pipelines. With a view to the other location factors, he also sees general opportunities for more direct industrial settlements in his home state. „We have favourable land and affordable skilled workers,“ says the 39-year-old. „With the help of renewable energies and electrolysis, we are now in a position to build a complete grid infrastructure for electricity on greenfield sites, enabling industry to plan for the long term, and safely.“

For the economy in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, such new establishments could possibly help it catch up with other states. Last year, the federal state achieved comparatively high GDP growth of 3.3% thanks to the tourism sector recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, and a new liquefied natural gas terminal in Lubmin. However, its share of 1.4% in Germany's overall economic output was the second lowest in the country. According to the latest salary report from Stepstone, MeckPomm also came second to last in terms of median gross annual income. At 7.7%, the unemployment rate was the third highest in Germany.

According to Roessner, the population is definitely aware of the potential of a hydrogen economy. „The topic is very popular in Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania and we see it as a huge opportunity,“ says the manager, whose North German dialect shines through from time to time despite his rapid pace of speech. Abroad, too, there is a lot to be said for Germany's approach to hydrogen: „Germany is considered a pioneer in this area. We have a lot to do with Dutch and some Austrian colleagues, who all look at Germany and say that we are relatively well organised politically.“

Not everyone in Germany sees it that way. In June, the National Hydrogen Council warned that Germany was in danger of being left behind internationally, due to the slow ramp-up of the industry. The German government wants to build ten gigawatts of electrolysis capacity by 2030. However, at the time of the warning, investment decisions had only been made for projects with a total capacity of 0.3 gigawatts.

In a survey conducted between June and August among various players in the hydrogen industry, the local market ramp-up was also assessed as „rather negative“. The reasons given included „excessive regulation“, which leads to „considerable planning uncertainty“. The survey was conducted on behalf of the German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water, the German Chemical Industry Association, the German Engineering Federation, and the German Steel Federation.

Roessner is confident with regard to the discussions, even though „it feels like everything is progressing relatively slowly.“ He notes that due to the huge hype surrounding the hydrogen theme three or four years ago, there were utopian valuations on the stock markets, and some drops in share prices. All the hopes for the sector have not materialised so far.

„However, I believe that the ramp-up will reach its critical moment in the next two years, so we will then realise that we can achieve this at the speed we had hoped for.," he says. Roessner only has his doubts when it comes to supranational targets such as the European Green Deal, which envisages 40 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity throughout the EU by 2030. „We may have to set ourselves more realistic targets here,“ he says.

H2Apex has set itself the goal of more than doubling its turnover this year compared to 2023. The forecast range is currently between 35 million and 40 million euros, although this looks more like the lower end, as the company announced at the end of August. The money is currently flowing mainly into the already profitable project business, in which H2Apex realises hydrogen plants for industrial and energy companies such as the steel group ArcelorMittal. In future, however, the majority of revenue is to come from the company's own hydrogen production. The storage solutions business is also expected to generate initial sales in the near future. Group-wide, H2Apex is aiming for a positive operating cash flow as early as next year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are also expected to be positive in 2026.

In order to reach the required number of employees by then, H2Apex is currently gradually switching the company language to English, as Roessner explains, "this means we can also work with colleagues who did not complete their studies in Germany.“

For those who will be working at the main site in Rostock-Laage in the future, there will probably be plenty of recreation in the area. The Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft National Park – the largest national park on the German Baltic Sea, and the third largest in the whole of Germany – is only a one hour drive away.