On 1 April, Gunar Schmidt, a qualified engineer and business economist, took over the management of Operations and Safety at ONTRAS Gastransport GmbH from Uwe Ringel, who is now retiring after many years of successful service. Schmidt will now manage the company together with Ralph Bahke, Managing Director of Control and Development.
„I am looking forward to working with the employees to drive ONTRAS forward on the path to a climate-neutral energy future. The transformation of our pipeline network towards hydrogen harbours numerous challenges that we can only overcome together,“ says Schmidt.
Schmidt has held management positions in the energy industry since 2002, and immediately before that he had been managing the business of Stadtwerke Energie Jena-Pößneck GmbH since 2021.
Since ONTRAS was founded in 2006, Uwe Ringel has been a member of the company's management board, initially responsible for the grid marketing division and since 2010 for the operations and security division. He was particularly instrumental in the transformation of the company and the ONTRAS grids towards renewable energies.
The Chairman of the ONTRAS Supervisory Board, Hans-Joachim Polk, is looking forward to a „close and trusting collaboration“ with Gunar Schmidt, who will set the political course in an „important phase for ONTRAS“.
„In the future, a large part of our investment will be channelled into the development of a core network for hydrogen transport," says Polk. „The corresponding plans for the route of the pipeline and the financing framework conditions are currently under political discussion. Our aim is to ensure that eastern Germany is cleverly and efficiently integrated into the new hydrogen infrastructure via ONTRAS. ONTRAS is already converting the first 25 kilometres of pipeline in Saxony-Anhalt to hydrogen. In addition, the safe and reliable operation of the natural gas-based transmission network naturally remains a top priority.“
(Source: Ontras)
