Global Energy Ventures Ltd (ASX:GEV) has appointed Mats Fagerberg in a new business development role as the company looks to expand its European footprint.
Fagerberg will take up the role in early March 2022 and will focus on further developing relationships with strategic partners and projects in Europe that can benefit from GEV’s compressed hydrogen export supply chain.
He has extensive experience including as commercial director with Avenir LNG, where he played a key role in the establishment of Avenir’s small-scale LNG business, and as a Partner with Affinity (Shipping) LLP in London, where he helped establish and lead Affinity Energy Infrastructure (AEI), which specialises in end-to-end energy infrastructure solutions.
Commercial business unit in Europe
“In response to increasing interest in GEV’s compressed hydrogen supply chain, the appointment of Mats is the first step in the development of a commercial business unit to be based in Europe, a more mature end-user market in terms of scale and adoption,” GEV’s managing director and chief executive officer Martin Carolan said.
“Hydrogen will play a systemic role in the energy transition across Europe, with the European Commission forecasting hydrogen to represent 25% of the EU’s total energy demand by 2050 supported by policies such as the European Green Deal to invest over 1 trillion euros in funding various clean energy and climate change initiatives.
“In 2021, the company received increasing levels of interest in our approach to using compression to make green hydrogen accessible to the European demand centres. Such demand now warrants a senior appointment with strong regional relationships and the expertise to source and advance new energy infrastructure projects that can benefit from the feasibility studies advancing in Australia for our cost competitive solution.
“Mats will also work closely with Rotterdam-based Per Roed, GEV’s chief technical officer, who has taken responsibility of our technical program and is now advancing discussions in Europe with prospective technical and project partners.”
Fagerberg will be based in Portugal, where hydrogen is central to the country’s net-zero strategy and is a future low-cost supply centre for renewable hydrogen.
GEV will also open a corporate office in Norway in July 2022, where it will establish further technical and commercial resources as required to service the European market.