Author: Arnes Biogradlija

The Federal Network Agency has approved 9,040 kilometers of hydrogen pipeline infrastructure across Germany, representing €18.9 billion in planned investment through 2032. The first 400 kilometers are operational. Industrial customers have signed exactly zero transport contracts. This discrepancy reveals the central tension in Europe’s energy transition: infrastructure precedes markets by design, but the gap between technical readiness and economic viability threatens to derail the entire hydrogen economy before it begins. The Lubmin-based pipeline, converted from the Nord Stream 1 natural gas route, exemplifies this challenge. Gascade has invested hundreds of millions in conversion costs, yet the facility remains unutilized as…

The United States’ renewable power capacity is forecast to expand from 414.5 GW in 2024 to approximately 1.06 TW by 2035, more than doubling over the period, despite federal policy shifts emphasizing energy security and domestic manufacturing over climate objectives, according to GlobalData analysis.

Global electricity generation investment reached $1 trillion annually, while grid spending climbed to only $400 billion, creating infrastructure asymmetry that manifests acutely in the United Kingdom, where operators paid generators £2.3 billion in the year through March to curtail output due to transmission constraints. This curtailment expense, likely to escalate in the coming years according to reporting, reflects fundamental misalignment between renewable capacity deployment concentrated in Scotland and grid infrastructure sized for the coal-centered generation geography that dominated through 2024. The UK closed its final coal plant in 2024, concluding 142 years of coal-fired generation after opening the world’s first…

Global hydrogen demand currently consumes close to 100 million tonnes annually for refining and ammonia production, creating a potential market for natural hydrogen if technical and commercial challenges can be resolved. A December panel discussion featuring three experts with divergent perspectives revealed fundamental disagreements about resource assessment methodologies, recovery mechanisms, and timelines to commercialization that expose the nascent sector’s uncertainty. WATCH THE FACE 2 FACE HERE Douglas Wicks, former ARPA-E adviser now working with natural hydrogen developers, emphasized engineering solutions and stimulation potential, arguing that subsurface hydrogen generation through serpentinization and other mechanisms can be controlled and enhanced. Arnout Everts,…

Type One Energy aims to achieve first plasma from its Infinity-1 validation device by decade’s end, positioning construction of the commercial-scale Infinity-2 stellarator for the early 2030s with mid-2030s grid connection at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run site. The timeline depends on resolving tritium breeding and handling challenges that remain at low technology readiness levels across the fusion sector, according to chief technology officer Thomas Sunn Pedersen, as well as demonstrating that high-temperature superconductor magnets can achieve the required field strengths and tolerances. WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE The stellarator approach eliminates the plasma current requirements inherent to tokamaks, avoiding the…

Wärtsilä has secured the fourth expansion phase of Origin Energy’s Eraring battery facility in New South Wales, adding 360 MWh to bring total capacity to 700 MW / 3,160 MWh upon completion in early 2027. The project’s scale positions it among the world’s largest battery installations, though its economic viability depends heavily on Australia’s National Electricity Market mechanisms for frequency control ancillary services, capacity payments, and energy arbitrage spreads that have demonstrated considerable volatility as renewable penetration increases and coal retirements accelerate. The sequential expansion approach across four stages since 2023 reflects a risk-managed strategy allowing Origin to validate technical…

Hydrogen Oman has confirmed BP’s withdrawal from the Duqm Green Hydrogen Project, marking the second project cancellation from the nation’s inaugural hydrogen auction round following the HyDuqm venture’s termination by mutual agreement. The exits occur as BP restructures its global hydrogen portfolio, withdrawing from projects in Australia and the United Kingdom alongside Oman, exposing tensions between government ambitions for hydrogen export economies and developer reassessments of project economics amid persistent offtake uncertainty and capital cost inflation. Hydrom announced both project conclusions at the 2025 Green Hydrogen Summit in Oman, framing the decisions as portfolio adjustments rather than fundamental strategy failures.…

For years, the hydrogen world has behaved like a teenager hopped up on optimism: big promises, loud declarations, and the belief that the whole planet would run on H₂ by “next summer.” Markus Exenberger, Executive Director at H2Global, puts that fantasy to rest. In our conversation at H2 MEET, he was brutally clear: the real work is only now being done — the slow, meticulous, bureaucratic, deeply unsexy work that turns hype into functioning markets. WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE And that’s exactly why this moment matters more than anything that came before. Markus started by reminding us that the…

European energy storage hardware startups have raised €2.14 billion in equity funding, accounting for 46.7% of capital raised over the past three years, according to analysis from Avnet Silica covering commercial, industrial, and grid-scale applications. The investment acceleration reflects mounting pressure to address renewable intermittency and grid stability challenges. However, capital concentration patterns reveal persistent questions about which technologies can achieve commercial scale against entrenched lithium-ion incumbents and Chinese manufacturing dominance. Mechanical storage systems captured €696.7 million, more than double the €331.8 million directed toward battery energy storage systems, despite representing fewer companies in the European startup landscape. This funding…

Air Products and Yara International have outlined a partnership structure for low-carbon ammonia projects in Louisiana and Saudi Arabia, with Yara positioned to acquire ammonia production facilities representing approximately 25% of an estimated $8-9 billion Louisiana complex after performance verification. The arrangement addresses a persistent challenge in carbon capture projects: securing offtakers willing to commit capital before operational proof, while deferring substantial asset acquisition until technical and commercial risks diminish. The Louisiana Clean Energy Complex targets production of more than 750 million standard cubic feet per day of low-carbon hydrogen with 95% CO2 capture, feeding 2.8 million tonnes per year…