Browsing: Hydrogen

Global hydrogen investment announcements surpassed hundreds of billions of dollars over the past several years, yet the gap between announced capacity and operational deployment remains substantial. According to the International Energy Agency, only a fraction of proposed low emission hydrogen projects worldwide have reached final investment decision stage, underscoring the persistent challenges around infrastructure, financing, and industrial demand creation.

Spain’s hydrogen strategy is increasingly shifting beyond project announcements and toward the consolidation of upstream industrial capabilities, as reflected in the inclusion of the Association of Chemical, Basic, and Energy Industries of Huelva (Aiqbe) and the entry of Ariema into its ecosystem, signaling a growing focus on manufacturing capacity and supply chain integration rather than standalone hydrogen project development.

The efficiency limitations of water electrolysis remain one of the largest technical and economic barriers to scaling green hydrogen production. While renewable electricity costs have declined sharply over the past decade, the oxygen evolution reaction inside electrolyzers continues to require high energy input, slowing system efficiency and sustaining dependence on expensive precious metal catalysts such as iridium and ruthenium.