Few subjects are as fraught and complex as hydrogen. In the latest 1895 episode, gasworld’s Rob Cockerill and Tom Dee reflect on the main hurdles the sector has faced during the last five years, which have slowed the uptake of mass-market adoption despite tangible progress.
The team chronicled 23 companies that have faced either restructuring, scrapped projects or gone bankrupt, with many of these in the last four to five months. It is clear that financing not only remains an obstacle to projects being green-lit but also to corporate profitability in the sector. Last year was an especially uncomfortable year, “with the hydrogen bubble finally bursting”.
Yet the prevailing narrative of an industry constantly on the ropes isn’t quite right, either. Progress is there to be seen.
Amid stories of major corporates such as BP, Air Products and Airbus scaling back projects, there are also positive developments. Just this week we saw news of the TotalEnergies and RWE green hydrogen offtake – and while that particular deal doesn’t start until 2030, it illustrates hydrogen’s now-growing role in tackling industrial decarbonisation.
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