Authors: Nicole de Jong and Holger Grabsch

POHM: Mr Wasko, the ace group is based in Hamburg – a city that stands for logistics, the port industry and the energy transition like few others. Why is Hamburg the right place for your vision of clean energy?

Mathias Wasko: For us, Hamburg is genuinely a place to build the future. The city combines a strong industrial foundation with an openness to new technologies. Here, we can not only plan innovations, but directly put them into practice. Moreover, we recognise the potential and the growing demand among our customers for charging infrastructure combined with photovoltaics.

What role does Hamburg play in your European growth plans? Starting point, hub or showcase?

In truth, Hamburg is all of these at once: the starting point of our projects, the hub of our European network – and the showcase for modern energy infrastructure. This year, for instance, we realised a combined project in the Netherlands consisting of charging infrastructure, photovoltaics and battery storage systems. A solar carport project is already under construction. Hamburg has an appeal that reaches far beyond Germany.

You benefit from proximity to the port, to industrial partners and to European energy networks. What does that mean in practical terms for your work?

The port and the entire Hamburg metropolitan region hold unique potential. Logistics and industry come together here with an unusually high density, which is particularly interesting for innovative companies. For us, this means that we can implement solutions under real-world conditions and develop them in close alignment with our customers’ needs.

How important are European partnerships and shared technical standards?

Without harmonised standards, Europe’s energy transition will remain fragmented. We need joint norms – for charging infrastructure, storage technologies and digital control systems. Only then can projects be scaled to an industrial level. The energy transition is not a national undertaking; it is a European project.

Logistics is one of the largest energy consumers. How can your technology contribute to greater sustainability in this regard?

Logistics is an energy giant – and therefore a key lever for genuine decarbonisation. The ace group enables renewable generation, battery storage and intelligent charging points to be merged into a single integrated system. Emissions fall, efficiency rises – and dependence on fossil energy carriers is significantly reduced.

What potential do you see in the electrification of lorry fleets and in a powerful fast-charging infrastructure?

Electric lorry technology is ready for the mass market. The bottleneck is infrastructure. If we build fast-charging stations where goods are actually moved – in ports, logistics centres, along motorways – this creates substantial economic advantages for our customers. Operating costs for electric fleets are attractive – provided that energy is reliably available. That is exactly what we are working on.

What role does the combination of photovoltaics, battery storage and charging infrastructure play?

This combination is the key to true energy autonomy. Photovoltaics provide affordable power, storage makes it predictable, and intelligent charging systems use it optimally. The result is a system that works effectively from both an environmental and a financial perspective. Many logistics hubs can already cover a significant part of their energy needs themselves.

Your company offers planning, consulting and implementation from a single source. Why is this integrated approach so important?

The energy transition rarely fails because of ideas – it fails because of interfaces. When planning, engineering, economic viability and implementation take place separately from each other, time and money are lost. Our approach reduces complexity, creates speed and increases the probability of success. Given the urgency of the transformation, this is a decisive competitive advantage

Europe wants green energy – yet progress is sluggish in many places. Where are the obstacles, and what needs to change?

The biggest problem is speed. Approval procedures take too long, and regulatory requirements are often too complex. We need digitalised planning processes, clear priorities and sufficient capacity for grid expansion – and, above all, political reliability. The technology exists, the investors are ready – now regulation needs to keep pace.

When you think of Europe as a joint energy project: what gives you confidence, and where would you like to see greater determination?

What gives me confidence is that the will to change is greater than ever. Industry is investing, society supports the energy transition, and Europe possesses enormous technological know-how. I would like to see greater speed in storage technologies and greater momentum in grid expansion and the development of intelligent charging infrastructure. This is where the pace of our progress will be decided.

Finally: what does ‘Sustainability made in Europe’ mean to you personally?

For me, it means creating solutions that combine ecological ambition, economic sense and social responsibility. Sustainability made in Europe stands for quality, for innovative strength – and for the conviction that prosperity and climate protection go hand in hand. It is a promise – and our mission.