Green Energy Council

Mr. Bart Biebuyck (Belgium)

CEO – HYBART – A green molecule company

Mr. Bart Biebuyck is one of the leading global thought leaders in the green hydrogen economy. Until 2023, he held the position of Executive Director of the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, a prestigious public-private partnership between the European Commission, Hydrogen Europe, and Hydrogen Europe Research. Today, as CEO and founding member of Green Energy Park, he spearheads the development of large-scale hydrogen production facilities worldwide, supporting national decarbonization strategies and the establishment of integrated hydrogen ecosystems.

Accomplishments:

• Seven-year leadership of the largest undertaking of its kind - Clean Hydrogen Partnership (CHP), overseeing a EUR 1 billion EU fund leveraged by an additional EUR 1 billion in private investment to accelerate the hydrogen sector.
• Successfully negotiated REPowerEU`s EUR 2 billion, and EUR 200 million R&I programme
• Initiated the EUR 3,000 million European Hydrogen Bank.
• Under his leadership, CHP built a network of over 1000 EU companies and research labs and created the European Hydrogen Valleys partnership involving around 40 EU regions.
• Launched groundbreaking projects in Brazil, including gigawatts scale hydrogen production facilities and a green Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) project aimed at decarbonizing the global steel industry.

Education: Mr. Bart Biebuyck graduated in 1998 from the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen (HAN) in the Netherlands with a bachelor’s degree in Automotive Engineering.

Dr Naomi Boness (USA)

Co-Managing Director of the Stanford Hydrogen Initiative

Dr. Naomi Boness is the Managing Director of the Natural Gas Initiative at Stanford University and Co-Managing Director of the Stanford Hydrogen Initiative. She is an experienced practitioner in the energy sector with a focus on using her background in reservoir geophysics and technoeconomic modeling to develop technology solutions related to natural gas, hydrogen, and decarbonization in both the developed and the developing world. Prior to Stanford, Dr. Boness held a variety of technical and management positions at Chevron.

Other Current Positions:

• She holds board positions at Aemetis, a renewable fuels company, Babcock & Wilcox, and Veriten, an energy education firm
• She is a member of the Renewable Natural Gas Coalition Advisory Committee and an advisor to several energy startups including EvolOH – an Electrolyser startup
• Invited member of the United Nations Expert Group on Resource Classification
• Ambassador for C3E Women in Clean Energy
• Member of the Renewable Natural Gas Coalition Advisory Committee, and a past Chair of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Oil and Gas Reserves Committee

Education: Dr. Boness holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University in Geophysics, M.Sc. from Indiana University and a B.Sc. from the University of Leeds.

Prof. Christopher Hebling (Germany)

Director of Hydrogen Technologies at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems

Prof. Christopher Hebling is the director of Hydrogen Technologies at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, one of the leading global research institutes on renewable energy technologies in Germany. Additionally, he is the delegate on behalf of Germany in the Executive Committee of the Technology Collaboration Program (TCP) for the Generation and Utilization of Hydrogen of the International Energy Agency, IEA. Furthermore, he is the Co-Chair of the board of the National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, NOW.

 Accomplishments:

• In July 2020, Hebling was nominated as an expert to represent Germany on the Executive Committee of the Technology Collaboration Program for Research and Development on the Production and Utilization of Hydrogen of the International Energy Agency IEA
• Founder of the Micro Energy Technology Group at Fraunhofer ISE
• Venture Advisor in EARLYBIRD Venture Capital

Education: Prof. Hebling received his doctoral degree in 1998 from the University of Konstanz on the topic “Crystalline Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells on Insulating Substrates”.

Prof. S Dasappa (India)

Chair, Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research- IISc, Bengaluru

Prof. S Dasappa, a faculty member at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, is India's leading scientist in the Bio-gas sector. His primary research focus spans the combustion of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels, with a current emphasis on green hydrogen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Dasappa played a pivotal role in the development and deployment of medical oxygen generator systems in hospitals. Prof. Dasappa has consistently been identified among the World's top 2% most influential scientists by Stanford University (2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024). Prof. Dasappa has also licensed his biomass gasification process to GE, USA.

• Professor, Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), IISC
• Member, R&D Board, CIL – Coal India Limited
• Member - Committee to prepare the inter-ministerial report on R&D in Green Hydrogen-Member -MNRE
• Member, Monitoring Committee of CSIR Hydrogen Technology Program (H2T), 2022 onwards
• Chairman – Project review Paddy Straw briquetting project – DST sponsored

Education: Prof. Dasappa has a Ph.D from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.