Author: Anela Dokso

Green hydrogen projects globally are increasingly constrained not by ambition but by bankability, with early-stage development costs often preventing projects from reaching financial close. The African Development Bank is attempting to address that gap through a new continent-wide program designed to unlock project pipelines before large-scale capital is committed.

Cement production accounts for roughly 7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, a figure that continues to position the sector among the most difficult to decarbonize due to its reliance on process emissions rather than energy use alone.

The UK’s hydrogen sector has struggled to convert policy ambition into bankable projects, with only a limited number progressing to final investment decision despite successive funding rounds. A 20 MW project in Wales has now crossed that threshold, offering a test case for whether government-backed hydrogen can move into execution.

South Africa’s hydrogen ambitions continue to be constrained less by capital than by capability, with skills shortages emerging as a critical bottleneck in project execution and scale-up. A new training initiative led by Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority and Sasol signals a shift toward addressing that structural gap, albeit at an early stage.

Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power is preparing to commit at least $30 billion to China over the next five years, reinforcing a strategic pivot that reflects both confidence in the country’s energy transition and a growing reliance on its industrial ecosystem.

Plug Power has secured a 275 MW electrolyzer contract in Quebec, marking one of its largest awarded projects and reinforcing its position in utility-scale hydrogen infrastructure despite ongoing financial strain.

The Oxford Battery Energy Storage Project in Ontario secured C$202 million in green loan financing to support a 125 MW and 500 MWh system designed to address peak demand variability and grid balancing requirements.

Carbon pricing under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has historically added modest but politically sensitive costs to electricity bills, yet tightening emissions caps and rising allowance prices are increasing the financial stakes as Virginia moves to rejoin the program in 2026.

The agreement between Zelestra and EDP marks Spain’s first power purchase agreement to retrofit battery storage onto an operational solar plant, signaling a shift in how renewable assets are structured and optimized as dispatchability gains importance alongside generation capacity.

Brazil’s positioning in the global hydrogen economy is increasingly tied to geography rather than policy ambition alone. A new national mapping study identifying optimal regions for green hydrogen production and consumption highlights a structural advantage: the coexistence of high-capacity renewable resources in the Northeast and concentrated industrial demand in the Southeast, a combination that few large economies can replicate at scale.