How Vaitea Cowan Wants to Bring Green Hydrogen to the Islands
Kairos Europe unites Europe’s most ambitious young entrepreneurs to rethink broken industries and tackle society’s greatest challenges. Vaitea, one of those change-makers, is on a mission to replace fossil fuels with green hydrogen.
Post-graduation Vaitea turned down an attractive job opportunity and hopped on a plane that took her across the globe. Away from the comfort of the ‘familiar’ and ‘known’, she found herself moving to the mountainous city of Chaing Mai, Thailand. Bold and curious, she surrendered to the notion of ‘if not now, then never!’ and went on to explore the East-Asian country as she pursued a professional career in the sustainability space.
As part of immersing herself into the culture and searching for projects that are actively contributing to a greener tomorrow and making an environmental impact, she stumbled upon the Phi Suea House project, a self-sufficient home that is fully powered by photovoltaics and hydrogen energy storage. By getting involved with this project, Vaitea found herself on the doorstep of the green hydrogen and carbon-free storage world. Ultimately this experience led her to meet Sebastian and Jan Schmidt, and together they went on to found Enapter, producer of the world’s first scalable electrolyser that replaces fossil fuels with green hydrogen.
Enapter’s magic lies in their green hydrogen Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Electrolysers that split water into oxygen and hydrogen. What makes them stand out is not only their standardized approach in an industry that does large scale customized systems, whereas Enapter goes for modular, scalable, and flexible systems; but also their approach to digital energy. They believe that successful energy players of the future think the energy in terms of hardware and software being inseparable. Their team created Enapter’s software-defined Energy Management System (EMS): a decentralized energy system controller. Their idea was to make an operating system for any energy system that offers core functionality and can easily be built upon to accommodate individual needs via open collaboration tools. Today, their electrolysers are running worldwide producing hydrogen for industrial and commercial purposes, energy storage, transport, or fuel for heating.
We had the chance to sit down with Vaitea and ask her about where Enapter is going, some things she wished she knew beforehand, and what role Kairos played in her journey.
What is your vision for the future when it comes to Enapter, and what impact do you hope to make?
“Green hydrogen is the oil of the 21st century. We strive to make electrolysers a commodity — a modular and scalable product just like the solar panel. The vision we are working on at the moment is the Enapter Campus which will house the fully automated production of our AEM electrolysers. There, we can scale production and drive the cost of hydrogen generators to produce an alternative fuel that is cost-competitive to fossil fuels. The vision is for industries like fertilizers, steel, cement, and many others to switch to more sustainable practices. It is also for planes, trains and trucks to drive on hydrogen, and for communities to be resilient, no matter their location and climate challenges they may face.
My personal vision is to bring hydrogen to the islands. This is why I started in the beginning, to replace diesel generators and provide emission-free energy security.”
If you were to go back to the very beginning before starting a company, what are two to three things you wish you knew?
“I am always curious to learn new things, but there is only so much you can do in one day! I would tell my younger self to create vision boards (personal and professional) and check in every 4–6months to revisit and evaluate. The urgency/importance matrix is also a tool I wish I knew about much earlier! Moreover, I would remind myself that there will always be more [work] to do, but time off is also essential. And this free time should not be one where your mind is in work thoughts and your body is with friends and family. A personal promise: to fully cherish the time with others and carve time for quality time, spontaneous hangouts, and be fully present.
Also, when you first start a company, everyone is doing a bit of everything. As Enapter is growing, tasks are being redistributed, and it’s the opportunity to narrow in and focus on what unique value can you contribute. In the vision board, there are some wild dreams, and when a milestone is reached, I would encourage and challenge myself to dream even bigger. And always, sleep enough, keep moving, and listen to your gut!”
Vaitea learned about Kairos, when she moved to Berlin in 2017 to open Enapter’s German office. Being exposed to a foreign city, language, and feel, a friend in Thailand introduced her to a friend of Kairos. Vaitea soon found herself having deep conversations with strangers from the get-go. Those strangers are Kairos Society Fellows.
How has Kairos helped you in your journey as a founder?
“I think when I look back into how Kairos has helped me, I recall one ‘SOS!’ moment when I needed to meet some venture capitalists in San Francisco and members of the community rushed to help me and took the time to sit down and go through everything bit by bit and give me guidance. Things like how my pitch should look like, how to best answer some questions, and how to overall voice myself- very little things, but just the support that is there when you need it most. They are the best people you want to be with basically, that hold not only the hard skills but also the soft skills, to be the best soundboard to brainstorm ideas or to come up with new ones or solve problems.
Kairos has also introduced me to some quite unique and interesting individuals through the summits, that I’m still connected to. It helps Enapter by spreading the word on what we’re doing. I get some ‘read this on hydrogen in the news and thought of you’ emails from a lot of the connections I’ve made through Kairos, and I make sure to update them on how we’re evolving. I like the fact that the introductions via the summits are not transactional but actually meaningful. To simply put it, Kairos has helped me make real connections with people, that when something arises it’s natural to just say “hey, thought of this for you, here you go!”.
Moreover, Kairos has provided me with great opportunities, such as speaking at the St. Gallen Symposium and getting exposed to‘crème de la crème’ of European and international business students. I got the chance to be in an environment that is incredibly intellectual, and use that to plant seeds in people’s minds about the future of hydrogen.
I think when it comes to Kairos there is always growth. I have never not grown after a conversation with a fellow from Kairos or anyone from the community. If you’re seeking growth, you should look no further.”
When we look at Vaitea’s story, it seems like all her dots are connecting and it was all meant to be. A girl born on the small island of New Caledonia with a love for nature and spending time in the wild, simply always wanted to improve life back home. Today, she is slowly but steadily working towards a future without diesel and batteries but with affordable green hydrogen energy, for a greener New Caledonia and world.
For the record, ‘Vaitea’ translates to a ‘sparkling waterfall’ in Tahitian, and with her fluid drive and positive energy, we are certain that she’s going to push our world towards a better one.
Thank you for reading this article from the Kairos Society Europe. We bring together Europe’s most ambitious young entrepreneurs to tackle society’s greatest challenges. Visit www.kairos-society.eu to learn more about us.
