Breakthrough Energy Ventures backs Blue World Technologies by joining its €37 million series-B
AALBORG -- With high-efficient methanol fuel cells, Blue World Technologies paves the way for making renewable e-fuels competitive.
Today Blue World Technologies announced that the Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) enters as an investor in Blue World Technologies alongside Vaekstfonden (The Sovereign Investment Fund of Denmark), DEUTZ AG, and existing investors who invested back in December 2021 to complete the company’s €37 million series B round. In connection with the investment from Breakthrough Energy Ventures – partly funded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Breakthrough Energy Ventures-Europe (BEV-E) – Blue World Technologies welcomes Allegra Kowalewski-Ferreira, a highly skilled and experienced investment professional to their Board of Directors.
The series B funds will be used for scaling the fuel cell production as well as investing in the development of methanol-driven fuel cell applications for the maritime sector. In late 2021, the company insourced all the production of the core fuel cell components and is currently in pre-series production. Later this year, Blue World Technologies will launch series production and with further scaling, the company expects to reach a production capacity of 500 MW within a couple of years.
We are facing a global climate crisis, and the only way out is to reach net-zero CO2 emissions. In 2018, Anders Korsgaard, Mads Bang, and Mads Friis Jensen founded Blue World Technologies to contribute to this mission, and since then, the company has worked determinedly on industrialising the methanol fuel cell technology through R&D and large-scale production. The fuel cells act as an alternative to fossil-based combustion engines, and with high energy conversion, the methanol fuel cells enable a cost-efficient utilisation of renewable e-fuels such as methanol.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures-Europe was established by the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Breakthrough Energy Ventures to invest in innovative European companies and bring radically new clean energy technologies to the market. It was established to support Europe’s best clean energy entrepreneurs whose solutions can deliver significant and lasting reductions in greenhouse gas emissions – Blue World Technologies and this investment in the company is an example of that.
One of the largest challenges in ensuring a net-zero future lies within the maritime sector, where direct electrification is not an option due to operational requirements. With an annual CO2 reduction potential of 1.8 Gt in 2050, new technologies and fuels are essential. Especially within the last year, the use of renewable methanol as shipping fuel has turned into a global trend, with methanol-driven vessels, cruise ships, and large ocean-going container ships currently being built. The fuel cell systems from Blue World Technologies enable a green, CO2-neutral operation with zero particle outlet. As a flexible power solution, the system can be used for auxiliary power, for smaller gensets or larger power units in the megawatt range, or for propulsion depending on ship type and customer needs.
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