Netherlands-based Watermeln, a company that provides the solution for sustainable mobile energy needs, announced on Thursday, that it has raised €1.5M in a fresh round of funding.
The investment was made by the Amsterdams Klimaat en Energiefonds (AKEF) and Accenda.
The AKEF was formed by the municipality of Amsterdam and is run by e3 Partners. The fund backs initiatives that advance energy efficiency, renewable energy production, circular energy, and energy conservation. It has contributed €74M to 31 projects, to date.
Delft-based Accenda is a research and development firm specialising in battery and hydrogen technologies. The firm claims to have created the first zero-emission hydrogen electrically powered excavator for the Mourik contractor.
In a company statement translated from Dutch, Jeff Wezel, co-founder of Watermeln, says, “With the input of investments and extensive market knowledge from AKEF and angels, we can take major steps in making temporary power supply more sustainable.”
An on-demand hydrogen-generating set
According to Watermeln, every day, hundreds of diesel generators are utilised to generate energy at events and construction sites which leads to Nitrogen and CO2 emissions.
The introduction of portable batteries has already made several sites greener. However, diesel generators are still needed for large machinery in places without a strong grid connection since batteries have a limited ability to store energy.
Most of the time, installing a connection is not worthwhile, or a connection won’t be accessible in the near future due to congestion. This is where Watermeln looks to operate.
Founded in 2018 by Jeff Wezel and Jasper Baltus, Watermeln provides temporary green electricity to places that do not have access to the grid or have insufficient capacity. They do this with the Watermeln 200, a transportable hydrogen generator.
The company says it fully relieves the customer of this process, whereby transport, connection, maintenance and monitoring are taken care of – “Our goal is to supply the Netherlands with sustainable energy wherever and whenever.”
The Watermeln 200
Watermeln’s mobile 200 kW hydrogen power generator, which combines battery and fuel cell technology, is being developed in collaboration with Accenda.
Green hydrogen is turned (at high pressure) into energy, which is then given straight to the user. The company says, by using a battery, higher peaks can be delivered and there is a higher degree of efficiency.
In the second part of this year, the first hydrogen power generation systems will be ready, says Watermeln and hopes to scale up to bigger numbers, maybe with even higher capabilities, in the future.
