The guests at ZSW were, among others, former Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, the consul general Akira Mizutani and the president of the Renewable Energy Institute, Tamiyoshi Tachibana. The foremost question of the visitors, who were accompanied by the State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, was what hydrogen can contribute to the energy turnaround (“Energiewende”). Of special interest was the power-to-gas demonstration plant of ZSW, which converts surplus renewable power to hydrogen and methane. Naoto Kan, whose term of office included the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear desaster, was particularly interested in the chances which power-to-gas (P2G®) holds for future mobility: The two regenerative gases from the P2G®process – hydrogen and methane – can be used as fuels for fuel cell and natural gas vehicles.“We must not count on one single alternative drive technology. For the energy turnaround in the mobility sector, we need hydrogen, methane and electric power”, Prof. Staiß, Managing Director of ZSW, emphasized. In his speech, he also introduced the visitors to the projects of ZSW in the areas of thin-film photovoltaics, battery research and economical analyses of energy systems. “We are pleased that influential politicians such as Naoto Kan advocate a rethinking of Japans energy politics. We hope that today, ZSW was able to provide another impulse to do so by presenting our innovations”, Staiß summed up.