South Korea’s coal phase down is exposing a practical challenge that extends beyond power markets. What happens to the land, labor, and grid assets built around large thermal power plants.
CF Industries’ decision to halt a planned 20 MW green hydrogen project at its Donaldsonville ammonia complex underscores the widening gap between early green hydrogen ambitions and projects that can clear today’s cost and policy hurdles.
Cummins has decided to halt hydrogen electrolyzer production at its facility in Oevel, ending nearly 25 years of activity at the site formerly known as Hydrogenics. According to labor unions, around 100 jobs will be lost, adding to roughly 100 positions already cut by the end of 2024 as the company downsizes its hydrogen business.
California and 12 other state attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit on February 18, targeting the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget over the Trump administration’s cancellation of billions in federally approved clean energy awards, including a $1.2 billion commitment to California’s hydrogen hub, ARCHES (Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems).
The UK’s hydrogen strategy is increasingly defined by whether projects can move beyond policy ambition and anchor demand in existing industrial systems. That tension sits at the core of a newly signed memorandum of understanding between Hy24 and Hynamics UK, which sets out plans to develop a £300 million green hydrogen facility in Fawley.
European hydrogen executives are urging the European Union to introduce “Made in Europe” requirements for state funded hydrogen projects, a move they argue is necessary to prevent a repeat of the solar manufacturing collapse of the 2000s, according to Reuters.
Europe’s hydrogen import strategy is increasingly colliding with a practical constraint in partner countries: grid capacity. That tension is visible in the European Commission’s decision to back two renewable energy projects in Egypt worth roughly €124.3 million, splitting funding between export oriented hydrogen derivatives and domestic grid reinforcement.
Kenya’s plan to develop a mega scale green hydrogen facility is less a symbolic climate gesture than an attempt to leverage structural advantages in geothermal, wind, and solar generation to enter an increasingly competitive global hydrogen market.
Vallourec has signed a memorandum of understanding with Baker Hughes aimed squarely at the compression storage interface, a segment where efficiency losses and capital intensity frequently undermine project bankability.
