References: Electrolysis, Hydrogen, Factory Planning

Technology & scale-ups

From lab to plant to series production.

Hydrogen, electrolysis, process industry, climate tech: projects where a technology had to make the step into industry.

Illustrative image: hydrogen production plant

Hydrogen · site development

A new production site for electrolysers, planned from manufacturing.

Starting point: An electrolyser manufacturer plans a new production site. Location and master plan are still open.
Bottleneck: The master plan risks following the site boundary instead of the production flow. Assembly concepts for series production are missing.
What I did: As part of a planning and consulting firm's team, I supported the site and master-plan process: design for manufacturing and scalable assembly concepts. I sat on the owner's side, a role that plant engineering also calls Owner's Engineer.
Result: A coordinated master plan as a basis for decisions, starting from the production flow.
Who this is relevant for: Founders and CTOs ahead of their first production site; planning firms that lack manufacturing depth.

Pilot to first industrial plant (DE)

Illustrative image: electrolysis manufacturing

Electrolysis · series readiness

From new electrolysis to the planned first industrial plant.

Starting point: A climate-tech scale-up with its own electrolysis process has a new electrolysis in the lab. The first industrial plant is planned.
Bottleneck: The prototype works, but the design is not ready for series production. The plant contractor lacks reliable basic data.
What I did: Co-developed electrolysis processes and stack systems, and ran design reviews under a framework contract, including before EPC award. Industrialisation for mass production, set-up and commissioning planning.
Result: A consistent technical roadmap from concept to the planned first industrial plant.
Who this is relevant for: CTOs and founders whose technology has to move from the lab into series production.

Stack to series (DE)

Process industry · USA

A plant expansion in the USA, supported over several years.

Starting point: A German technology group expands a plant in the USA.
Bottleneck: Commissioning and production start have to be coordinated across continents, time zones and many suppliers.
What I did: Multi-year support of the technical project management: remotely throughout, on site for the key commissioning steps, in supplier alignment and at component acceptance tests at the manufacturer.
Result: Continuous technical support from planning through commissioning to production start.
Who this is relevant for: Project managers with international projects; planning firms that need capacity for delivery.

Industrialisation & commissioning (DE)

Illustrative image: climate-tech test rig

Climate tech · stack development

From single-cell stack to test rig and Balance of Plant.

Starting point: A climate-tech scale-up is developing its stack. Reliable measurement data for plant design is missing.
Bottleneck: There is no test rig that reproduces real operating conditions. Interfaces to the Balance of Plant are open.
What I did: Designed and built test rigs for single cells and stack components. Clarified hydraulic supply, pressure losses, leakage paths and operating strategy. Co-developed the Balance of Plant for the first plant.
Result: Measurements under realistic conditions instead of assumptions, as the basis for the next scale-up step.
Who this is relevant for: Development heads and CTOs who need data for plant design and for investors.

Test rig & Balance of Plant (DE)

Several project fields may belong to the same client.

Industry & production

Planning factories, ordering workflows, testing investments.

Factory planning, agritech, mass production, due diligence: projects where production had to be rethought or a decision secured.

Factory planning

A cable works reorganises its production.

Starting point: A cable manufacturer wants to reorganise its production. Planning runs through a planning and consulting firm.
Bottleneck: The workflows have grown over the years. Where the real bottleneck sits is unclear.
What I did: Working in the planning firm's project team: created a process map, analysed bottlenecks, developed scenarios and worked out practical production aids.
Result: Scenarios that management and planners can compare, based on the actual workflow.
Who this is relevant for: Planning firms without their own manufacturing depth; plant and production managers facing a rebuild.

Senior capacity for planning firms (DE)

Agritech · handling

A handling process with no catalogue machine.

Starting point: An agritech company wants to automate the handling of live animals.
Bottleneck: Standard mechanical engineering has no solution. Animal, mechanics and workflow have to be thought through together.
What I did: Concept study: broke the process down, compared solutions in a morphological box, built a functional prototype, ran conveying and practical tests in operation.
Result: A solution concept with a prototype, tested under real conditions.
Who this is relevant for: Mid-sized companies with an interdisciplinary automation problem.

Automation without a catalogue machine (DE)

Mass production · workflow optimisation

Production and logistics as one system.

Starting point: A mid-sized pipe manufacturer with grown processes. The assignment came through a university institute for production engineering.
Bottleneck: Production and logistics were looked at separately. Improvements in one place shifted the problem to the next.
What I did: Developed production and logistics concepts jointly, with regular alignment meetings, workshops and reports directly with production.
Result: Concepts that treat production and logistics together, aligned directly with production.
Who this is relevant for: Production managers at plants with grown workflows.

Plant & material flow (DE)

Technical due diligence

Testing a technology before the next stage is financed.

Starting point: A new electrolysis technology faces the decision on the next scale-up stage.
Bottleneck: Lab results say little about whether stack, manufacturing and plant work at scale.
What I did: Technical due diligence: assessed process, stack, manufacturing, suppliers and operating strategy, supplemented by design reviews.
Result: A clear picture of the technical risks and open points, before the decision, not after it.
Who this is relevant for: Investors, managing directors and CTOs facing a financing or scale-up decision.

Technical due diligence (DE)

Several project fields may belong to the same client.

Why no names

Named references follow once the client has agreed.

For me, confidentiality continues after the project. So I name clients and results only once the client has agreed in writing. Until then I describe the sector, the role and the task.

You speak to the engineer who did the work.

I am Tobias Breitbach, a production engineer with a doctorate. REAC Energy is my engineering practice, and I supported every one of these projects myself.

15 minutes with me More about me

Frequently asked

About the references.

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Why are there no client names here?

Because my clients show me confidential technology. Names and logos appear only once the client concerned has agreed in writing.

Are there figures for the results?

Not here. I do not publish figures the client has not approved, and I do not invent any. In conversation I explain scope and approach as far as confidentiality allows.

Do you also work abroad?

Yes. On the plant expansion in the USA: remotely throughout, on site for the decisive commissioning steps and acceptance tests at the manufacturer.

Your project

Does your situation resemble one of these projects?

Then let us talk. For a smaller, clearly defined first package I can often start the next day: read in, think it through, prepare the site visit.

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