Author: Arnes Biogradlija

Renewable energy sources are projected to comprise 46% of global electricity generation by 2030, up from 30% in 2023, according to International Energy Agency forecasts. Solar and wind are expected to account for nearly all of this expansion. This rapid deployment trajectory creates control system challenges for microgrids integrating intermittent generation, particularly as global renewable capacity is expected to expand by over 5,520 GW during 2024-2030, representing 2.6 times the deployment achieved during 2017-2023. A recent academic study examines hierarchical control architectures that combine droop-based primary control, adaptive centralized secondary regulation, and battery energy storage systems to address frequency instability…

Thyssenkrupp’s hydrogen subsidiary Nucera recorded a 77% decline in green hydrogen segment orders during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024/25, with new business contracting to €3 million compared to prior-year levels. The company reported that additional orders in this division will not significantly impact revenue until subsequent years, while the traditional chlor-alkali business demonstrated relative resilience with only a 6% quarterly decline and €107 million in new orders. The order collapse extends deterioration visible throughout the fiscal year ended September 2025, with total order backlog falling from €1.1 billion to €606 million. This 45% backlog reduction reflects both project execution…

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…