Science Breakthroughs Success Stories: Reverion

Global Call Category Science Start-ups

The startup rethinking power plants for a renewable future

Clean energy startup and Falling Walls Venture participant, Reverion, is developing reversible power plants that combine power generation, energy storage and CO₂-negative operation in a single system. By using high-temperature fuel cells, their technology can generate electricity from gas or hydrogen and convert excess renewable energy back into green fuels, offering a flexible and scalable solution for the energy transition.

We spoke to Stephan Herrmann, co-founder and CEO at Reverion, about the science behind the company's breakthrough, the future of renewable energy systems and the challenges of scaling climate-positive technologies. 
 

Can you tell us about your breakthrough and the inspiration behind it? 
Our breakthrough is a reversible power plant based on high-temperature fuel cells that can both generate electricity from natural gas, biogas or hydrogen and convert excess renewable electricity back into green hydrogen or methane. This allows the same system to produce power, store energy and even enable CO₂-negative operation. The inspiration came from the inefficiency and inflexibility of traditional gas power plants and the growing need for large-scale energy storage in a renewable energy system. Our goal was to rethink the power plant entirely and build a technology that makes renewable energy more efficient, flexible and climate-positive. 
 

How do you see the future of renewable energy systems? What are the next big things to happen in this field? 
Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are already becoming the backbone of a clean and sustainable energy system. Their costs have declined dramatically over the past decade and continue to do so, making them the most competitive sources of electricity in many regions of the world. As a result, the key question is no longer whether renewables will dominate, but how to build an energy system around them that is reliable, flexible and scalable. 

The next major developments will therefore focus less on classic 24/7 power generation and more on system integration. This includes advances in long-term energy storage, not for a few hours but for the Dunkelflaute (a period of low renewable energy generation) lasting several weeks, and sector coupling. Solving these challenges will be critical to ensuring a truly stable energy supply in a system dominated by intermittent renewable sources. 

That is where technologies like Reverion power plants will play the decisive role: combining highly efficient power generation, energy storage and flexibility within a single system. Unlike many future concepts, such solutions are already economically viable, proven and scalable today. They will be the essential building blocks for a resilient, carbon-negative energy system, both in the near term and in the long-term evolution of global energy infrastructure. 
 

What real-world impact do you hope your breakthrough will have in the next 5–10 years? 
Our goal for the next 5–10 years is to deploy our reversible power plants at gigawatt scale and significantly increase the efficiency of renewable energy systems and long duration energy storage. By converting gas into power with unprecedented efficiency and transforming biogas plants into highly efficient, flexible power and storage hubs, we can help stabilise grids with high shares of wind and solar while enabling CO₂-negative energy production. Ultimately, we aspire to transform tens of thousands of existing biogas sites into climate-positive assets and make a meaningful contribution to a reliable, fully renewable energy system. 
 

In your view, what should investors/funding bodies be focusing on right now? 
Investors and funding bodies should focus on scalable infrastructure and real-world deployment, including hydrogen networks, energy storage systems and flexible power generation. Building this infrastructure is essential to decarbonise industry and energy systems at scale and to ensure that innovative technologies can move quickly from pilot projects to widespread adoption. From the perspective of Reverion, supporting solutions that are already proven and ready to scale will have the biggest climate impact within this decade.  
 

You applied to the Global Call in the category of Science Start-ups (Falling Walls Venture). How has this programme supported or influenced your work? 
The programme has been a valuable experience for Reverion, providing a platform to showcase our reversible power plant technology to an international audience of investors, experts and potential partners. It helped sharpen our pitch, refine our communication of complex energy solutions and gain visibility in the global science and innovation community. Beyond exposure, the feedback and networking opportunities have influenced our strategy by connecting us with partners who share our vision for scalable, climate-positive energy solutions. 
 

What are the next walls to fall? And, in your view, what are the next walls which should fall?  
The walls that should fall are policy, investment and adoption barriers: regulations that slow deployment of proven climate-positive technologies and funding gaps that prevent scaling solutions like reversible power plants. Removing these walls would allow technologies that are already proven and scalable today to have real, measurable impact on the energy transition, accelerating decarbonisation and making renewable systems more resilient worldwide. 

Unsubscribe any time. You’ll find our data privacy policy here.