TÜV NORD GROUP: Shaping the future with an accelerated energy and mobility transition

• Revenue increases to a new record level of EUR 1.45 billion (6% more than the previous year); EBIT before special items increased by 4.8 percent to EUR 76.6 million.
• The Group wants to provide yet more support to politicians and authorities to help accelerate the energy transition.
• Deep geothermal energy offers high potential for a sustainable and cost-efficient heat transition, and TÜV NORD is calling for a nationwide alliance of politicians, authorities, operators and consumers.
• The Group is supporting the mobility transition by expanding electromobility and proposes a manufacturer-independent TrustCenter for data protection-compliant access to vehicle and driving data.
• The increased immigration of skilled workers from abroad promises to boost the energy and mobility transition and the digital transformation.
• The Group has once again been awarded the accolade of Leading Employer. With new, flexible working time models, it is proving successful in the competition for talent.

The TÜV NORD GROUP ended the 2022 financial year on a successful note and was notably able to further expand its key position in securing energy supplies and accelerating the energy transition in Germany and abroad. At the annual press conference in Hanover, Chairman of the Board of Management Dirk Stenkamp said: “Our focus strongly reflects the turning point we have reached in Germany and Europe. With the development of Germany’s LNG infrastructure in record time, the safe transition away from coal- and nuclear-based energy generation and the accelerated expansion of wind and solar power, we have made significant contributions to averting an energy crisis throughout 2022 and to the present day.” Mr. Stenkamp also referred to the high future potential of deep geothermal energy: “More than 25 percent of the thermal energy required in Germany could be provided sustainably, quickly and comparatively easily by geothermal heating plants. To implement this, we need a coordinated, nationwide alliance for the heat transition to establish this climate-friendly technology in Germany.”

Mr. Stenkamp emphasised that, for the energy transition to succeed, the approval processes must be speeded up still further. “Alongside material and production bottlenecks, insufficient digitalisation, a lack of official personnel and changing requirements in the approval process are among the main causes of long-drawn-out procedures for the expansion of wind power, photovoltaics, biogas and power lines. With our high level of expertise and experience, the TÜV NORD Group is providing targeted support to the public sector in the acceleration of infrastructure expansion, e.g. through technical and environmental assessments or project management. We are offering to deepen and broaden our commitment in this area.”

Mr. Stenkamp cited the rapid construction of the German LNG terminals in Wilhelmshaven, Stade and Lubmin, in which experts from TÜV NORD provided targeted support to the authorities, as setting the trend for the general acceleration of approval procedures. Another prime example of this has been the connected pipeline network which has in many places already been laid in readiness for the switch from natural gas to hydrogen. “We have designed all our testing services for effectiveness and efficiency to enable the safe and environmentally friendly operation of the new systems in the face of considerable time pressure, for example through the use of drones and digital remote technologies,” said Mr. Stenkamp. All sides must now make additional efforts to advance the energy transition across the board. If the fourfold increase in the onshore expansion of wind power by 2025, as planned by politicians, is to be realised, all the parties will have to act even more quickly. “If we miss our expansion targets for renewables, this will significantly reduce the competitiveness of the German economy, especially where new power lines for green electricity have to be built,” Mr. Stenkamp said, in an impassioned appeal to all those involved.

Deep geothermal energy was one of the focal points of the annual press conference. Mr. Stenkamp welcomed the fact that deep geothermal energy is ready for rapid expansion as a sustainable heat source and this technology is increasingly receiving support from policymakers, including in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. DMT, a TÜV NORD GROUP company, has already carried out promising seismic measurements for geothermal exploration. Mr. Stenkamp: “Resources for the broad-based seismic exploration of geothermal energy are available at DMT. But if we are going to use geothermal energy to seal the success of the heat transition, we will also need an alliance of federal and state governments, operators and municipalities to act decisively together. At the same time, consumers need transparent information about this sustainable and cost-effective technology. The TÜV NORD Group will continue to play an active role in this regard.”

To accelerate the mobility transition, TÜV NORD is expanding its service portfolio in the electromobility field. An innovation pilot is currently running that makes it possible to assess the condition of high-voltage batteries directly via the charging cable. To support the broad-based digitalisation of mobility, Mr. Stenkamp called for access to relevant vehicle and driving data, which is going to be fundamental for the technical assessment of vehicle and functional safety. TÜV NORD is proposing a manufacturer-independent “TrustCenter” for the administration of these data, which has so far been the sole responsibility of the producers. Mr. Stenkamp: “Personal data sovereignty must be our top priority at all times. This is why we are supporting and calling for data protection-compliant access to digital vehicle and driving data for testing organisations, insurance companies and authorities, for example to allow for the comprehensive testing of digital components during the periodic vehicle inspection or to clarify liability issues in the event of accidents.”

With the complete takeover of TÜVLITA, the market leader in periodic vehicle inspections and vehicle appraisals in Lithuania with 29 inspection stations, TÜV NORD is further expanding its mobility services and new business activities in the energy, information and communication sectors in the Baltic States.

In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), TÜV NORD is investing heavily in the expansion of an AI centre (“AI-Lab”) in Berlin. The Group is working with other TÜV companies and the TÜV Association to develop methods, tools and standards for testing artificial intelligence based, among other things, on the “AI Act” of the European Union, which is currently in preparation.

Together with CFO Jürgen Himmelsbach, Mr. Stenkamp emphasised that the TÜV NORD Group is consistently investing in new testing technologies for areas of high future relevance including energy, mobility, sustainability, the circular economy, nutrition, New Space, data/communication and knowledge transfers:

- Scottish start-up Global Surface Intelligence (GSI) analyses image data of the Earth’s surface recorded by unmanned aerial vehicles and satellites with the aid of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The data thus obtained are making it possible, among other things, to manage forested areas and agricultural land both more sustainably and more efficiently.

- With the acquisition of HTV and HTV Conservation in Bensheim, Germany, TÜV NORD subsidiary ALTER TECHNOLOGY is putting together a leading domestic and international product portfolio for the automated testing, programming and conservation of semiconductor chips. This takeover will add to the resilience of the German and European semiconductor industry.

CFO Jürgen Himmelsbach said that, notwithstanding the many challenges, 2022 had been an economically successful year. “As a globally active company, we were also severely impacted by the negative economic effects of the war in Ukraine. Thanks in part to strict expenditure management and other measures to secure liquidity, the Group’s operating result is above plan and the operating result for 2021.” 

Key financial figures for 2022 (previous year in parentheses):

• Operating profit (EBIT): 76.6 million euro (73.1 million euro)
• Revenue: 1,451.8 million euro (1,369.3 million euro)
• EBT: 78.9 million euro (73.3 million euro)
• Balance sheet total: 1,105.2 million euro (1,102.4 million euro)

Chief Human Resources Officer Astrid Petersen highlighted the new demands that the current labour market situation is placing on companies. She singled out the younger generations in particular are no longer being only interested in good pay and opportunities for advancement; they are instead keen to find meaning in their work: “Our employees are driven by the enthusiasm to create trust in technology in general and new technologies in particular. This leads them to identify more strongly with our Group while also making us attractive to potential applicants.”

For the fifth time in succession, the TÜV NORD Group has been awarded the “Leading Employer” accolade, making it one of the top 1 percent of employers in Germany: This was the finding of the “Leading Employers 2023” study, for which data from 160,000 companies were evaluated. In Lower Saxony and its state capital Hanover, the TÜV NORD GROUP saw off all the competition and took first place.

The “battle for talent” is also being felt by the TÜV NORD GROUP with its more than 14,000 employees worldwide, especially in IT security and emerging professions such as data science and artificial intelligence. Astrid Petersen: “We are taking a different approach: with our new, intuitive application tool, it is at long last both easy and quick to apply for a job with us. The top job-sharing model is also opening the door to part-time careers, and we offer specialist career paths for people who want to develop but don’t want to take responsibility for other employees.” This overall package also includes flexible working time models and offers through the new family service for a better work-life balance.

Regarding the energy transition, Astrid Petersen said that the change in the labour market might also have the effect of bringing the necessary expansion of renewable energies in Germany to a grinding halt: “If we are going to implement our renewable energy targets, we need more skilled workers from abroad and better coordination in the integration between federal, state and local governments. In our experience, there is still potential in the recognition of qualified university and professional qualifications from other countries.”  

Further information, images and video material can be found here.