About us
We are an experienced engineering company from Germany and have developed a suite of innovative solar thermal technologies for industrial scale applications worldwide.

Our story

Challenge

The idea of Protarget was born during a business trip to California where two senior automotive and aerospace executives asked themselves why there is so much innovative and smart technology, and the world is still just talking about switching to green energy? It is obvious that the world’s dependency on fossil fuels is creating more environmental, financial and political problems than ever before. Why do we then accept that the biggest single energy consumers are industries who use process heat and produce almost anything that we as humans consume, and our deserts are not utilised to produce sustainable alternatives?

Solution

The two departmental heads from Toyota Formula One had a vision of using their extensive knowledge and experience from the high-end automotive industry to commercialise the existing renewable energy technologies. The engineers were convinced that the innovation, speed, intensity, and precision of Formula One processes can be successfully applied in a much wider segment – the industrial production of almost anything.

John Mitchell and Martin Scheuerer combined their production know-how with a scientist, Dr. Ing. Eckhard Lüpfert, from the German Aerospace Centre DLR with 30+ years scientific knowledge on solar thermal energy. The three forged the idea of taking already developed but complex and expensive Concentrated Solar Technology (CST) and scaling it down for decentralised applications. This resulted in co-founding Protarget and its first product – an innovative parabolic trough collector that provides cost-effective steam and hot water for industrial applications.

Vision

Protarget represents science and engineering excellence. Our vision is to make a notable contribution in driving the world’s industrial manufacturers towards cleaner energy alternatives. Protarget is built on fundamental beliefs such as energy security and independency, stable energy costs and reduction of CO2 emissions. The world is at the brink of change where the actions towards greener energy use and production need to take over the mere words. To put it simply, when fossil fuels run out or are cut off, and your energy gets taken away, we at Protarget will be there to fill the gap and help you to start switching.

Start changing the world

Team

Board of Directors

John Mitchell

Founder & Engineering Director

B. Eng. (Hons) Aeronautic Engineering
20 years experience as programme and production manager at Toyota Formula 1 and British Aerospace

Martin Scheuerer

Founder & Commercial Director

Dipl. Ing. Automotive Engineering
Director of the German Concentrating Solar Association DCSP

14 years experience as production and development manager at Toyota Formula 1 and Mercedes Benz

Achim Kettlack

Financial Director

Master of Business Administration
25 years of management experience in international mechanical and plant engineering, especially in the power plant industry and renewable energies

Eckhard Lüpfert, Dr. Ing.

Senior Technology Advisor

Dr. Ing. Engineering
Project Leader Solar Research at German Aerospace Centre DLR

30 Years experience in CSP research
Project Manager at Plataforma Solar Almeria

Supervisory Board

Wolfgang van Kerkom

Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Master of Business Administration
Chartered accountant, lawyer, tax consultant Partner at PKF Fasselt, Cologne, Germany

Dietmar Thiele

Member of the Supervisory Board
Shareholder

Master of Business Administration
Partner at NCF Berlin, Germany

Jürgen Heinzig

Member of the Supervisory Board
Shareholder

Master of Business Administration
Director at Jongen Holding GmbH, Willich, Germany

Engineering Team

Stefan Bonleitner

Technical Engineer

B. Eng. Building Services Engineering

Victor Prieto

Structural Engineer

M.Sc. Civil Engineering

Eleni Samara

Civil Engineer

B.Com. Civil Engineering

Johannes Werner

Engineer

B.SC. Energy Engineering

LEILA IZADI MASOOLE

CSP ENGINEER

B.Sc. Chemical Engineering and M.Eng. Environmental Engineering

Chris Jones Protarget AG

CHRIS JONES

SALES ENGINEER

National professional qualification in mechanical engineering and piping

FERNANDO MENDOZA

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

M.Eng. Electrical Power Systems

Marketing and Sales Team

Frauke Wolters

Project Management

Master of Library Science

Verena Mohr

Marketing and Sales

Master of Business Administration

Production and Assembly

Heinz-Uwe Sydow

Team Leader Production & Assembly

State-certified mechanical engineering technician, international welding expert

Armin Softic

WELDING TECHNICIAN

Welding specialist

Christiane Marschall

Mechanic

Marina Marschall

Mechanic

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