Hidden Champion #3 – Reverion
Key Facts
Company: Reverion
Location: Eresing (Bavaria, Germany)
Founded: 2022
Technology: Reversible power plants based on high-temperature fuel cells (Power-to-Gas ↔ Gas-to-Power)
Field of Application: Decentralized energy supply, energy storage, biogas upgrading, CO₂ removal
Special Feature: Can simultaneously generate electricity, store energy, and actively remove CO₂ from the cycle—with exceptionally high efficiency
Key Raw Materials: Zirconium (ZrO₂), nickel, rare earths (e.g., yttrium; often also scandium oxide in high-performance variants)
A German startup converts biogas into electricity and storable energy—allowing farmers to become energy producers
Imagine a farm that not only produces food but simultaneously becomes part of the energy transition.
The biogas produced there—a mixture of methane and CO₂ resulting from the decomposition of liquid manure and organic waste—is actually a climate problem: both gases significantly drive global warming, methane in particular. At the same time, the pressure is mounting not only to reduce emissions but to actively remove them from the cycle. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), between 5 and 10 gigatons of CO₂ must be removed from the atmosphere annually to meet the 1.5-degree goal of the Paris Agreement. This is exactly where Reverion comes in: the company uses biogas to generate green energy—and separates CO₂ in the process to remove it permanently from the cycle.
The Bavarian startup develops compact, modular power plants that can be used directly where biogas is produced—such as on agricultural farms or in wastewater treatment plants. Instead of simply burning the gas as has been done to date, Reverion uses a special high-temperature fuel cell technology to generate electricity much more efficiently—while simultaneously creating the basis for specifically separating and further processing CO₂.
The actual breakthrough lies in the system’s flexibility: the plants can not only generate electricity but, if required, also reverse the process and store energy in the form of hydrogen. This transforms a classic biogas power plant into a controllable energy storage system. And the whole thing is remarkably compact: a single unit is roughly the size of a shipping container and can supply around 100 households with energy—modularly scalable and ready for use directly on-site.
The impact goes far beyond the technology. Agricultural operations become energy producers, and waste becomes a reliable energy source. At the same time, such systems stabilize the power grid by providing energy when it is needed—or storing it when there is a surplus. However, the climate effect is particularly relevant: methane is no longer released in an uncontrolled manner, and the CO₂ contained in the biogas can be captured and permanently stored. This creates a system that not only reduces emissions but actively removes them from the cycle.
The fact that not just an idea is emerging here, but a market, is already evident today: companies such as Google, Stripe, or Skims are investing early in technologies designed to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere—even before they are widely available. Reverion is one of the companies benefiting from this: the startup is receiving around 41 million US dollars for the removal of 96,000 tons of CO₂ between 2027 and 2030. In total, the initiative known as the Frontier coalition plans to invest around one billion dollars in such technologies by 2030.
Reverion thinks of energy as a system rather than a power plant: it is generated, stored, and controlled—directly where it is needed. This makes Reverion our Hidden Champion of the week.