This month’s blog is from the man at the top, CEO Jon Duffy. New to the company and new to hydrogen Jon tells us more about himself and what he’s been doing since he walked through the doors.
In 2018, I was approached by CPH2 to help write their business strategy. Little did I know that two years on, I would be the CEO of this brilliant and dynamic company.
I have a background in commodity trading and leadership positions within the food and agriculture sector. Because of this, I have always had a keen interest in the essential things in life that sustain us – food and energy. Watching the growth of the renewable energy sector, it became clear that we needed to use such power to decarbonise our energy and transport sectors and, the only fuel that can do this is hydrogen. Globally, agriculture has developed the ability to feed the world; we need to repeat that success by powering the world using hydrogen.
After taking up my role in September this year, we are in the process of updating and re-writing the strategy; and our ambitions are even higher. I have spent my time getting to know the business, its people, and the technology, but I have also been talking to potential customers and investors. What is very evident is that CPH2 is in the right place at the right time.
You can barely pick up a financial paper or listen to a current affairs programme without the mention of hydrogen. It is now beyond doubt that hydrogen is THE fuel of the future. But to achieve an ample supply of hydrogen, the world needs electrolysers. The unique technology that we have developed and patented at CPH2 will put us right at the heart of such a supply. Quite simply, our electrolysers are smaller, lighter, more cost-effective to own, safer, use no precious metals, and have a 20-25 year lifespan. As the world drives toward carbon neutrality, CPH2 will be centre stage.
We are now in the final stages of building our first unit that will be shipped to the customer imminently (proudly emblazoned with the CPH2 logo). Part of this process will enable us to increase our TRL (technical readiness level) from 7 to 9. Hot on the heels of that will be two more units, and then the process of finding and establishing our first full-scale production facility will begin. The staff at our technical innovation centre in Doncaster are working hard to finish the current builds as well as concentrating on continued technology advances as we look to increased market demand and applications.
We are well into the production, sales, and marketing phases of the initial strategy. We are actively talking to potential customers and project managers about the supply of multiple electrolysers with a scale from a few megawatts to gigawatts.
Things are moving quickly at CPH2, but we will not get carried away with the hype. We are all committed to keeping our feet firmly on the ground to build the company at a pace, that while challenging, is sustainable. Any company is only as good as its people. I must pay tribute to the passionate and talented team that we are assembling at CPH2. We have a team that has a ‘can-do’ attitude who work with a smile on their face.
#teamhydrogen
