Letter on hydrogen: Achilles heel
Investment in the supply side has defied the odds to top $100b, but difficulties in generating large-scale demand could undermine the clean hydrogen industry’s future potential
The clean hydrogen sector has reached a major milestone in its development, with more than 500 projects reaching FID, representing investment of $110b, according to industry group Hydrogen Council. Investment worth $35b has been committed in the past 12 months alone, and since 2020 the sector has seen “explosive growth”, with a 7.5-fold increase in new project announcements, it said in its Global Hydrogen Compass report, which was co-authored with consultancy McKinsey & Company. These dazzling numbers—released as the energy industry reconvened after the summer break at the Gastech event in Milan—were clearly designed to reset the narrative around the clean hydrogen sector’s potential to
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