North America

The US Department of Energy has allocated USD 7 billion ($11 billion) for seven Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs (H2Hubs) to deploy commercial-scale clean hydrogen, while the Mission Possible Partnership, RMI, Systemiq, Power2X, and industry leaders have set up the Transatlantic Clean Hydrogen Trade Coalition (H2TC) to ship US clean hydrogen to Europe by 2026.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists have developed a train-like concentrated solar power (CSP) system for hydrogen production, with plans to build a prototype in the coming year. They say that this innovative system can capture up to 40% of the sun’s heat to produce environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel.

Scientists in the United States have achieved a breakthrough in PV cell tech by creating a 24 cm2 perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell. It positions a lithium fluoride interlayer between a hole transport layer and the perovskite absorber to reduce shunting losses.

A green hydrogen collective that includes Australia’s Fortescue is set to share in more than $11 billion (USD 7 billion) of United States government funding as the Biden administration seeks to accelerate the commercial-scale production and deployment of low-cost, renewable hydrogen.

Solar panel producer Maxeon Solar Technologies will lay off 750 employees by the end of the year as the company reels from reduced shipments from its largest distributed generation (DG) customer in North America and an ‘industry-wide demand slowdown’ in global DG markets.

Fortescue is pressing ahead with the development of a 70,000-tonne green hydrogen production facility at Gibson Island in Queensland, tapping North American hydrogen technology company Plug Power to supply 550 MW of electrolysers for the proposed project.

A group of scientists in the United States saw ‘encouraging’ results after testing the commercialisation of novel coating materials in field tests, with the coating only increasing a panel’s total cost by 1.4%.

Australia’s antitrust watchdog has approved Brookfield’s takeover bid for Origin Energy, clearing the way for shareholders to vote on one of Australia’s largest recent corporate buyouts.

Australian technology company Infravision plans to “supercharge” the development of its drone-enabled powerline stringing system and software technology solutions after securing a “game-changing” $36 million (USD 23 million) from global energy and utility investors.

Fortescue has become a “lead investor” in, and signed a 1 GW supply deal with, US-startup Electric Hydrogen, or EH2. Fortescue, which is pursuing both green hydrogen projects and electrolyser manufacturing, says EH2’s systems produce hydrogen at “transformational” low cost.