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BBC News
3 hours ago
- Science
- BBC News
The precious 'white gold' buried in the Earth
Naturally occurring "white hydrogen" lies in vast reservoirs beneath our feet – now the gold rush of the clean energy era is beginning. Investors had lost faith in Edwin Drake's obsessive hunt for oil when the American entrepreneur finally struck black gold in an underground reservoir in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859. The discovery spurred an exploration frenzy that launched the modern oil age. Now, a new generation of wildcatters are racing to replicate that Titusville moment, hoping to bring about the dawn of a major new energy resource. However, it's not fossil fuels they are looking for, but a commercially viable source of natural – and low-carbon – hydrogen. Hydrogen, the smallest, simplest and lightest molecule on Earth, is currently used mainly for refining and chemical industries, such as producing ammonia for fertilisers. The vast majority of this hydrogen is made from polluting methane gas or coal gasification. But there are already other, lower-carbon ways to produce hydrogen. And hydrogen's ability to store three times more energy than oil, while only producing water when burnt, has made some view it as an attractive clean fuel option, especially for industries which are hard to decarbonise by electrification, such as aviation, shipping or steel production. "Green" hydrogen, for example, is a cleaner alternative made by splitting water between hydrogen and oxygen molecules in a process powered by renewable energy. "Blue" hydrogen, made from fossil fuels using carbon capture and storage to reduce the emissions, is another alternative. Green and blue hydrogen have received huge attention as potential low-carbon fuels in recent years, but they also have significant downsides. Both are expensive and faced challenges and delays in their rollout. And while their use is slowly growing, together they still only make up around 1% of global hydrogen production. Some researchers have also raised doubts over how low-carbon blue hydrogen really is due to associated leaks of methane – a potent greenhouse gas which is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year time span. Meanwhile, in recent years scientists have found that naturally occurring hydrogen is actually much more widespread than previously thought, leading some to believe it could be tapped as a cheap and carbon-free fuel. This "geologic" hydrogen, also called natural or white hydrogen, is produced naturally when underground water encounters iron-rich rocks in a process known as serpentinisation. Because hydrogen is so light, it usually seeps through porous rocks and cracks, eventually rising to the atmosphere. That's if it isn't first consumed in underground reactions or eaten by subterranean microbes. But in some geological settings, hydrogen can become trapped under rocks with low permeability, such as salt or shale rocks, which create a seal under which the gas can accumulate. It's these hydrogen accumulations in the Earth's subsurface that prospectors hope may be viable for commercial exploitation. According to a 2024 study from the US Geological Survey (USGS), there could be anywhere between one billion and 10 trillion tonnes of hydrogen in the subsurface, with a best guess of around 5.6 trillion tonnes trapped in geological formations. Most of this hydrogen is likely to be "in accumulations that are too deep, too far offshore, or too small to be economically recovered", the study's authors, USGS geologists Geoffrey Ellis and Sarah Gelman, wrote. However, if just 2% of this white hydrogen was recoverable, it could meet projected global hydrogen demand for around 200 years, they found. It would also, they added, contain roughly twice as much energy as is stored in all the proven natural gas reserves on Earth. The idea has sparked huge interest in what could be lying under our feet. At least 60 companies have publicly said they are exploring for white hydrogen, with investment estimated to have reached $1bn (£740m), says Eric Gaucher, a French geochemist who co-leads a white hydrogen expert group convened by the International Energy Agency (IEA). "That's more or less a rush," he says. Gaucher left a job at oil giant Total four years ago and now runs an independent consultancy advising companies "who want to win the race for natural hydrogen". Exploratory drilling, he notes, has already taken place in Australia and the US. Prospectors like Gaucher argue the discovery of a commercially viable hydrogen reservoir could usher in a new age of exploration in the same way that Drake's 1859 find fired the starting gun for the oil economy. "The hope is to make a big discovery in the next three or four years," he says. "My dream is that this natural hydrogen can play a role, maybe as oil played in the past." Still, Gaucher admits prospectors should currently remain "modest" about white hydrogen's potential role in the energy transition. Not least because huge uncertainties remain about how much of it could actually be recoverable from the Earth's mantle. "Currently, we really have no idea," says Ellis, of the USGS. "That's the big question. From what we know today, there's just too much uncertainty to really make any predictions about how impactful [natural hydrogen] might be." The only place where white hydrogen extracted from the Earth is currently used is in the village of Bourakebougou in western Mali. The local community's fate changed in 1987 when the cigarette of a worker digging a water well sparked a small explosion as he leaned over the edge. Nearly pure hydrogen was later found at the bottom of the borehole. It is now used to produce electricity for the village. Odourless, colourless and tasteless, hydrogen is difficult to detect without specifically looking for it. But in early 2025, a team of geologists announced they found a clue for where to start looking. Using simulations of plate tectonic processes, they showed that rocks that had been pushed closer to the surface during the formation of mountains could be hotspots for white hydrogen. The researchers identified mountain ranges stretching from the Alps to the Himalayas as possible targets for exploration. Other researchers in the UK and Canada recently published a list of key ingredients needed to find hydrogen-producing underground systems. "We know for example that underground microbes readily feast on hydrogen," study co-author Barbara Sherwood Lollar, a professor of geology at the University of Toronto, said in a release. "Avoiding environments that bring them into contact with the hydrogen is important in preserving hydrogen in economic accumulations." Although exploration of white hydrogen has been gathering steam, no commercially viable wells have yet been found. In its 2024 global hydrogen review, the IEA described white hydrogen production technology as scoring five out of nine on its technology readiness scale. There is also still insufficient evidence to prove white hydrogen is even a renewable resource for use at scale, says Laurent Truche, a professor of geochemistry at Grenoble Alpes University in France who researches natural hydrogen. That's because it's not clear whether or not hydrogen is generated quickly enough to replace any that might be extracted from reservoirs. Truche says the rate of hydrogen generation is "several orders of magnitude too slow compared to what we would expect to produce". He worries about the hype, noting that "natural hydrogen production is currently tiny, the hydrogen that is found is rarely pure, [and] many discoveries are of dissolved gas, which is difficult to produce". Naturally produced hydrogen is also unlikely to be located where it is needed and hydrogen is difficult to transport and store, although proponents told the BBC it could support fuel sovereignty by powering local industries. But extracting white hydrogen could also come with unintended consequences, including impacts on the climate that could undo some of the benefits of replacing fossil fuels. Hydrogen reservoirs can contain methane, which could offset the benefits of white hydrogen unless it were captured. What's more, once in the atmosphere, hydrogen competes with methane for hydroxyl, a compound which breaks down methane molecules. This means that any hydrogen that escapes during extraction would also make methane in the atmosphere last longer and cause even more warming. These methane emissions, alongside the emissions embedded in drilling infrastructure, mean white hydrogen production wouldn't be totally carbon free. One initial estimate suggests that, in cases where reservoirs have a high percentage of hydrogen and low amounts of methane, 0.4kg of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) would be emitted for every kilogram of hydrogen produced. That's less than the average 1.6kg CO2e generated with each kilogram of green hydrogen, which requires the construction of vast renewable energy infrastructure. However, emissions associated with white hydrogen production would increase the more methane is in the reservoir and the less productive the well becomes. A well with 75% hydrogen and 22.5% methane would emit 1.5 kg CO2e per kg of hydrogen, according to the same study. White hydrogen proponents tell the BBC that methane emissions can be filtered, while extracting and burning hydrogen as a fuel would reduce the amount that naturally leaks to the surface and reaches the atmosphere. But Truche disagrees. Large-scale white hydrogen production would lead to increased hydrogen leakage into the atmosphere, he says. It could also impact underground ecosystems and the microbial life that rely on hydrogen as an energy source, he adds. These microbes play an important role in the cycle of the Earth's chemical elements and compounds – yet relatively little is known about the deep terrestrial subsurface, according to a scientific review by Rachel Beaver and Josh Neufeld at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Even if a large discovery was made in the next few years, it would take at least another decade to develop an industry at scale, says Truche, meaning white hydrogen will not have an impact on the energy system anytime soon. Other experts have also argued white hydrogen extraction "simply won't be available" to replace the fossil fuel-produced hydrogen currently in use within the timeframe needed to meet global climate goals. For Emmanuel Masini, founder and chief executive of Mantle8, a French hydrogen exploration start-up backed by Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy, however, the urgent need for decarbonisation is exactly the reason for accelerating white hydrogen exploration. "We are convinced there could be really significant [hydrogen] reserves, we need to go ahead and deliver them," Masini says. To do this, Mantle8 has developed a technology which uses geology, geophysics and geochemistry data and sensors to create 4D images (in three dimensions and across time) of the Earth's mantle to pinpoint the specific location of white hydrogen reservoirs and quantify and monitor the volume of hydrogen in each. The technology could be used to map the entire planet and take out the guesswork in exploration by identifying replenishing reservoirs, saving both time and money, says the start-up. Masini says it has already identified 12 promising locations across Europe and aims to identify 10 million tonnes of hydrogen reserves by 2030 – a goal he is confident it can meet. More like this:• Why we may soon need to eat 'resurrection' plants• Are China's swap stations the future of electric cars?• The controversial machine sending CO2 to the ocean and making hydrogen In February 2025, Mantle8 secured financing to pilot the technology in the Pyrenees mountains in southwest France. The company aims to begin exploratory drilling in 2028 and produce its first kilogram of hydrogen by 2030 at around $0.80 (£0.60) per kg. That would make it cheaper than any other hydrogen form and at least five times less than the cost of green hydrogen. Researchers at Stanford University have also estimated that white hydrogen could be produced below $1 (£0.74) per kg under optimal conditions. Tools and expertise developed by the oil and gas industry could be adapted to extract the gas, argues Viacheslav Zgonnik, a pioneer in natural hydrogen exploration and chief executive of HyReveal, a start-up developing ways to detect and monitor hydrogen underground. "It presents an amazing opportunity for the hydrocarbon industry to make the pivot" to cleaner energy sources, he argues. Oil companies are indeed showing growing interest. In Brazil, Petrobras is researching the possibility of natural hydrogen extraction. Oil giants BP and Chevron have joined a consortium studying natural hydrogen, and BP recently invested in UK-based natural hydrogen start-up Snowfox Discovery. Others are considering stimulating hydrogen production by injecting water into underground iron-rich rocks to produce "orange" hydrogen, a process which could theoretically be coupled with carbon sequestration but remains more complicated and uncertain. Zgonnik is optimistic white hydrogen can provide "the missing link" to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors, starting with the fertiliser industry. Still, even under a best-case scenario, he estimates it could replace "only a few percent" of global fossil fuel use by 2050. But others, like Truche, argue it is too early to determine what role, if any, white hydrogen could play in the energy transition. Whether replenishing reservoirs of extractable hydrogen exist underground "is a genuine scientific question", he says. "But it remains to be proven." -- For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Auto Blog
12 hours ago
- Science
- Auto Blog
Breakthrough Hydrogen Fuel Production Uses 3 Unlikely Ingredients
By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. Engineering experts get 'in the ballpark' of green hydrogen Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a way to produce hydrogen gas with a smaller carbon footprint by combining recycled soda cans with seawater and caffeine. Most current methods for hydrogen fuel production are less eco-friendly due to their reliance on fossil fuels, but MIT's study found that its alternative manufacturing process could be applied at an industrial scale. The team of researchers calculated the carbon emissions associated with sourcing and processing aluminum, reacting it with seawater for hydrogen production, and transporting it to fuel stations. They found that for every kilogram of hydrogen produced, the process would generate 1.45 kilograms of carbon dioxide over its entire life cycle, 9.55 kilograms fewer than traditional fossil-fuel-based methods. One kilogram of hydrogen can take a hydrogen fuel cell car 37 to 62 miles on average, and the team calculated the cost of their fuel production method as $9 per kilogram. The new process starts with pellets of recycled aluminum (in jar) that react with seawater to produce pure hydrogen. The team found that if scaled up, the process could generate 'green' hydrogen with a low-carbon footprint. — Source: MIT The study's assessments centered on using recycled aluminum, as it saves a significant amount of emissions compared to mining for aluminum. Salt in seawater proved valuable due to its ability to sustainably precipitate gallium-indium, a rare-metal alloy that effectively removes aluminum's protective oxide layer, exposing pure metal that produces hydrogen when combined with seawater. The researchers were unable to source gallium-indium from regular water, as oxygen causes aluminum to instantly form a shield-like layer that won't readily cause a reaction, which caffeine helped speed up. Dr. Aly Kombargi, a recent MIT mechanical engineering graduate who was the study's lead author, said in a release from the university: 'We're in the ballpark of green hydrogen. One of the main benefits of using aluminum is the energy density per unit volume. With a very small amount of aluminum fuel, you can conceivably supply much of the power for a hydrogen-fueled vehicle.' Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. What this hydrogen production method could look like at scale Regarding commercial-scale production, these MIT researchers outlined the process as starting with scrap aluminum from a recycling center, shredding that aluminum into pellets, and treating it with gallium-indium, then transporting the pellets as aluminum fuel instead of moving hydrogen, which can be volatile. The ideal fuel station would be near a seawater source, and these researchers are exploring underwater production applications. The team was able to make life cycle assessments for their hydrogen manufacturing method using Earthster, a software tool pulling data from a vast repository of products and processes. Their extensive assessments included primary aluminum mined from the earth versus recycled aluminum, while also evaluating different aluminum and hydrogen transportation methods. The researchers found that once its process using recycled aluminum was complete, it left behind boehmite, an aluminum-based byproduct used in semiconductor and electronic production, which could be sold to manufacturers, further reducing costs, Tech Explorist reports. A researcher demonstrates 'activating' aluminum by dipping an aluminum pellet in a mixture of gallium-indium. — Source: Tony Pulsone/MIT Final thoughts Kombargi's team discovered how recycled aluminum pretreated with a gallium-indium alloy and seawater could facilitate hydrogen fuel production in 2024, but during conferences, the researchers were frequently asked about the method's carbon footprint and cost. Subsequently, extensive trials allowed the team to determine that for every kilogram of hydrogen produced, the process would generate 1.45 kilograms of carbon dioxide over its entire life cycle, 9.55 kilograms fewer than traditional fossil-fuel-based methods. The process's cost of $9 per kilogram is comparable to the price of hydrogen generated with other green technologies such as wind and solar energy, creating a complementary solution. About the Author Cody Carlson View Profile
Reuters
13 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Fortescue iron ore shipments rise; scraps US, Aussie green hydrogen projects
July 24 (Reuters) - Australia's Fortescue ( opens new tab on Thursday posted record fourth-quarter shipments that helped the miner meet the top end of its full-year guidance, and said it would scrap its U.S. and Australian green hydrogen projects. The Perth-based company said it would not proceed with its Arizona Hydrogen Project in the U.S. and the PEM50 Project in Gladstone, Australia, following a review. It is assessing options to repurpose the land and assets. Fortescue also expects a preliminary pre-tax writedown of about $150 million in its second-half results, linked to spending on the PEM50 Project, electrolyser manufacturing equipment in Gladstone, and engineering costs for the Arizona Hydrogen Project. The mining giant expects to ship between 195 million and 205 million metric tons of iron ore in fiscal 2026, including 10 million to 12 million tons for Iron Bridge on a 100% basis. Iron Bridge is Fortescue's sole magnetite operation, located in Western Australia's Pilbara region. The company forecast metals capital expenditure of $3.3 billion to $4 billion in fiscal 2026. It posted quarterly iron ore shipments of 55.2 million metric tons (Mt), up from 53.7 Mt a year earlier and above a Visible Alpha estimate of 52.5 Mt, supported by improved processing of the steel-making commodity. Fortescue, chaired by billionaire founder Andrew Forrest, shipped 198.4 Mt of iron ore in fiscal 2025 - its highest on record - and met the top end of its 190–200 Mt annual guidance. Larger rival BHP ( opens new tab last week reported record copper output in fiscal 2025 while iron ore mining giant Rio Tinto ( opens new tab logged its strongest second-quarter iron ore production since 2018.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Factbox-Cancelled and postponed green hydrogen projects
MADRID (Reuters) -Developers of green hydrogen have scaled back investments and scrapped projects globally as elevated production costs and weak demand for the low-carbon fuel have made many ventures unviable. Here are some projects that have been cancelled, postponed or scaled back. EUROPE ** Energy company LEAG's plans to build one of Europe's largest green energy hubs on the site of disused coal-fired power plant units in eastern Germany have been postponed indefinitely, it said in June. ** Steelmaker ArcelorMittal had planned to convert two plants in Germany to green hydrogen, but it shelved the 2.5 billion euro ($2.9 billion) plan in June despite the offer of 1.3 billion euros in public subsidies. ** Iberdrola, Europe's largest utility, scaled back its green hydrogen ambitions by almost two thirds in March 2024 after funding delays for some projects. Its 2030 production target fell to about 120,000 tons of green hydrogen a year, compared with a previous goal of 350,000 tons. ** Spain's Repsol cut its 2030 target for green hydrogen production by up to 63% in February to between 0.7 gigawatts (GW) and 1.2 GW of electrolyser capacity by the end of the decade, with Chief Executive Josu Jon Imaz highlighting the challenges of a high-cost industry heavily reliant on subsidies. ** BP said in April that it was shutting its team looking into hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for transport. ** Shell scrapped plans for a low-carbon hydrogen plant on Norway's west coast owing to lack of demand, it said in September, days after Equinor cancelled a similar project planned for Norway. ** Oil refiner and biofuel maker Neste withdrew in October from an investment into renewable hydrogen production at its plant in Porvoo, Finland, citing challenging market conditions. AUSTRALIA ** Origin Energy said in October that it intended to exit a potential hydrogen development project in the Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub (HVHH) in New South Wales. ** Global commodities trader Trafigura in March abandoned plans to build a A$750 million ($491.5 million) green hydrogen plant at its Port Pirie lead smelter in South Australia. ** Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest in July last year cut back plans for his company, Fortescue, to produce 15 million metric tons of green hydrogen by 2030, blaming costs and the amount of renewable energy sources needed. ** Woodside Energy, Australia's largest independent oil and gas producer, shelved two green hydrogen projects in Australia and New Zealand last September. ** The Queensland state government this year pulled funding for a A$12.5 billion plant to produce 200 tons of liquefied hydrogen by 2028, placing the future of one of Australia's largest and most advanced green hydrogen projects in serious doubt. Japanese investors Kansai Electric and Iwatani exited soon after. UNITED STATES ** U.S. startup Hy Stor Energy in September cancelled its reservation for more than 1 GW of electrolyser capacity with Norwegian electrolyser manufacturer Nel. ** Air Products said in February that it was looking to cancel plans to construct a 35 ton per day facility to produce green liquid hydrogen in Massena, New York, largely because of regulatory developments rendering existing hydroelectric power supply ineligible for the Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit. ASIA ** Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries walked away from a coal-to-hydrogen project in Latrobe last December, citing time and cost pressures. ($1 = 1.5260 Australian dollars) ($1 = 0.8613 euros) (Compiled by Pietro LombardiEditing by David Goodman) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Green hydrogen retreat poses threat to emissions targets
By Pietro Lombardi, Nina Chestney and Riham Alkousaa MADRID/LONDON/BERLIN (Reuters) -Green hydrogen developers are cancelling projects and trimming investments around the world, raising the prospect of longer than targeted reliance on fossil fuels. The challenges facing the sector have exposed its initial ambitions as unrealistic. Hard-to-electrify industries that were seen as ideal candidates for green hydrogen, such as steelmaking and long-distance transportation, have found that transition to the low-carbon fuel looks prohibitively expensive. The gap between ambition and reality in Europe shows the extent of the reset happening within the industry, said Jun Sasamura, hydrogen manager at research company Westwood Global Energy. Only about a fifth of planned hydrogen projects across the European Union are likely to come online by the end of the decade, he said. That equates to roughly 12 GW of production capacity against an EU target of 40 GW, Westwood Global Energy data shows. "In the current state, I really don't see the EU 2030 (hydrogen production) target being reached," he added. INFLATED EXPECTATIONS Companies say that high costs and a lack of demand for green hydrogen have rendered many plans unprofitable. "Green hydrogen was an inflated expectation that has turned into a valley of disillusionment," said Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, chief executive of Portuguese power company EDP. "What's missing is the demand. There are 400 million euros ($464.2 million) of subsidies for hydrogen in Spain and Portugal, but we need someone to buy the hydrogen." The company has several projects in advanced stages but cannot move forward because of a lack of buyers, said Ana Quelhas, EDP's hydrogen chief and co-chair of the European Renewable Hydrogen Coalition. Across the border, Spain's Iberdrola has shelved plans to increase capacity at a green hydrogen plant with electrolyser capacity of 20 MW until it finds buyers for additional output, company executive Iban Molina said at an energy event in Madrid. They are among more than a dozen large companies that have trimmed spending or shelved projects across Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere in recent years. Companies had scrapped or delayed more than a fifth of all European projects by the end of last year, Westwood Global Energy says. At Aurora Energy Research, Emma Woodward said: "In 2020-2021 we had this view of hydrogen and the fact it was going to be used in almost every sector that hadn't been electrified. "I think we've realised now that there are other, probably more commercially viable, alternatives for lots of sectors. Maybe we don't need as much hydrogen as initially expected." TOO EXPENSIVE Many governments have long supported development of green hydrogen - produced through electrolysis that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity from renewables - to help to decarbonise energy, transport and industry. Countries including Australia, Britain, Germany and Japan announced ambitious investment strategies they hoped would bring down costs and eventually create a profitable green hydrogen sector that would no longer need support. Production, however, remains more expensive than for natural gas and other fossil fuel-based alternatives, said Minh Khoi Le, Rystad Energy's head of hydrogen research. It is at least three times more expensive than natural gas as a fuel for power generation, for example, and twice as expensive as grey hydrogen. The latter is produced from natural gas and coal and is already used in industries such as oil refining and production of ammonia and methanol. Costs could fall by 30-40% in 10-15 years if equipment prices decline and the broader supply chain scales up, he added, while Aurora's Woodward and Westwood Global Energy's Sasamura said that green hydrogen is unlikely to become competitive before then. Only 6 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of low-carbon hydrogen capacity - including green and blue hydrogen, which is made from gas - is either operational or under construction globally, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says. This is well below the 450 mtpa the consultancy says is needed as part of the global push for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The EU has committed to reducing emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, en route to the 2050 target. BUYERS PRICED OUT THE MARKET The industry had counted on sectors such as steel, oil refining, cement and transport to be among the first buyers, but the expected demand has failed to materialise. German die forging company Dirostahl, which makes components for wind turbines, ships and oil and gas drill pipes, is dependent on furnaces fired by natural gas and is looking for a replacement. However, green hydrogen is still too expensive. Offers for the fuel do not come below 150 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) while natural gas can be bought for 30-35 euros/MWh, said Chief Executive Roman Diederichs. "It simply doesn't work. You might not want to call it economic suicide, but in practice it would be just that. We'd be completely uncompetitive," he said. Prices remain elevated because of the high cost of electrolysers needed for large-scale production, infrastructure bottlenecks and increased energy costs resulting from rules on what constitutes green hydrogen. Some European countries have scaled back their ambitions. Italy has recently shifted more than 600 million euros in post-pandemic funds from hydrogen to biomethane. France lowered its 2030 hydrogen electrolysis capacity target by more than 30% in April and Portugal has cut its electrolysis capacity ambitions by 45%. The Dutch government last year made sharp cuts to funds it had originally reserved for green hydrogen projects and battery development, shifting the focus of its climate fund toward the planned construction of two new nuclear plants. Several players in Australia, meanwhile, have scaled back or withdrawn from projects despite more than A$8 billion ($5.2 billion) of pledged government support. Projects that are going ahead also face delays. Rystad Energy analysts estimate that 99% of A$100 billion of projects announced for the next five years have failed to progress beyond the concept or approval stage. INFRASTRUCTURE DIFFICULTIES Another problem is that hydrogen is difficult to store because it requires high-pressure tanks, extremely low temperatures and tends to leak, making for risky transportation through old gas pipelines while awaiting new infrastructure. Spain hopes to build a 2,600 km (1,615 mile) hydrogen network and connect it to another project - the trans-European H2Med link - from the Iberian region to northwest Europe. The Spanish network should be operational around 2030, but delays of two or three years are likely for broader European infrastructure, said Arturo Gonzalo, CEO of Spanish gas grid operator Enagas. "Infrastructure is not something that happens when the market has already taken off; it is something that has to happen for the market to take off," he said. ($1 = 0.8617 euros) ($1 = 1.5340 Australian dollars)
