The implementation agreement for Namibia’s planned multibillion-dollar Hyphen Hydrogen Energy project is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of this year, Namibia President Hage Geingob revealed in his 2023 New Year’s message.

Egypt has granted approval for two green hydrogen projects in the industrial zone of Ain Sokhna, a port town on the Red Sea.

Africa can produce 50-million tons of green hydrogen a year by 2035 with the help of the platinum group metals (PGMs) that the continent hosts in world-leading quantity, a study by European Investment Bank, International Solar Alliance and the African Union highlights.

South Korea intends creating six hydrogen cities that will use hydrogen in buildings and transport as part of daily life, Hydrogen Insight reports.

Scotland has let it be known that it will call for green hydrogen proposals early this year as part of installing 5 GW worth by 2030.

Inner Mongolia is poised to begin construction in the upcoming 12 months of facilities to generate green hydrogen for long-distance piping to the Sinopec Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Complex, where hydrogen for last year’s Beijing Winter Olympics was purified.

Canada, and especially its western province of Alberta, is poised to become a hydrogen power leader, says Resource World.

Greenland has unveiled a plan to produce green hydrogen on a ship linked to a 1.5 GW wind farm.

Portugal has invited its first national green hydrogen tender.

India plans to introduce green hydrogen mandates for heavy industry after passing enabling legislation.

Green hydrogen generation potential in Australia is described as being huge by Dr Thomas Hillig of THEnergy.

Stationary hydrogen fuel cells, using the same technology that provides clean electricity to mobile fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), will be used in South Korea to supply clean electricity to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which creates a new rapprochement that has been lacking between FCEVs and BEVs.

Scaling up hydrogen in key industrial basins worldwide is the stated priority of French gas company Air Liquide, which has clinched a joint venture with Lotte Chemical to provide green hydrogen to passenger and commercial vehicles at a proposed filling centre in Seoul.

Australian engineers have figured out how to run diesel engines on a mix of diesel and hydrogen to lower emissions.

Hydrogen is expected to grow sevenfold in support of the global energy transition, reports the World Platinum Investment Council, which points out that platinum-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology has a significant role to play in the global transition to green energy. PEM is used in PGMs-based green hydrogen electrolysers as well as in the fuel cells that power FCEVs.

Cummins will be supplying a platinum-based PEM electrolyser system for Linde’s new hydrogen production plant in Niagara Falls in New York – and the list of global green hydrogen initiatives, projects and ventures could go on, which underpins a joint study on patents just released by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Technologies motivated by climate change accounted for nearly 80% of all patents related to hydrogen production in 2020, states the joint EPO and IEA report, which covers hydrogen supply, storage, distribution, transformation and end-use.

Hydrogen from low-emissions sources is described in the report as having the capacity to play an important role in clean energy transitions by replacing fossil fuels in industries where few clean alternatives exist.

“This study shows that innovators are responding to the need for competitive hydrogen supply chains, but also identifies areas – particularly among end-users – where more effort is required. We will continue to help governments to spur innovation for secure, resilient and sustainable clean energy technologies,” says IEA executive director Fatih Birol in the release to Mining Weekly.

Harnessing the potential of hydrogen is a key par...