“RES1 has not worked,” said operators commenting on Italy’s auction scheme for renewables. The lack of concrete projects to be submitted to the auctions is due to a combination of factors primarily based on “excessive bureaucracy,” and the impossibility of ground-mounted PV projects in agricultural areas to get incentives, they added. Nonetheless, things could soon change, especially if an RES2 scheme is implemented.

The government of Mauritania and renewable energy developer CWP Global have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a 30 GW power-to-X project. Danish power company Ørsted, and Copenhagen’s utility, Hofor, entered into an agreement that will secure green power in the framework of the wider, 1.3 GW, Green Fuels for Denmark project.

The German Federal Ministry of Economics and the German Federal Ministry of Transport selected 62 large-scale hydrogen projects to receive €8 billion in government funding. Furthermore, 11 projects have been selected in the framework of H2 Hub Airport, a call for expressions of interest to contribute to the surge of the hydrogen airport ecosystem in France. French energy company Total acquired a 20% stake in Hysetco, a French company developing hydrogen mobility in cities.

Spanish energy company Iberdrola and American power generation products producer Cummins have signed an agreement to promote a green hydrogen value chain in Spain by 2023. Denmark-based green hydrogen infrastructure company Everfuel has launched its H2 station roll-out plan for Denmark, targeting up to 19 fueling sites by the end of 2023. South Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai Motor has said it would begin production of the world’s first mass-produced, heavy-duty truck powered by hydrogen, in August this year.

Estonia relies heavily on oil shale, which accounts for 4% of the country’s GDP. The Baltic state is working to increase green hydrogen production, but PV is projected to maintain a marginal role despite the recent growth. We spoke about it with Estonian energy company Alexela and cleantech start-up PowerUP Energy Technologies.

The scheme is expected to be issued within 18 months. According to law firm Schoenherr Romania, there is a growing appetite for large-scale solar projects in the country among investors.

AGN has commenced blending renewable hydrogen into part of its natural gas distribution network in Adelaide and Snam tested a 30% hydrogen/natural gas blend in the forging processes used in industrial steelmaking. Furthermore, Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and other potential Brazilian partners participated in an evaluation mission to develop the hydrogen-focused technical cooperation project H2 Brazil with German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

A Greek consortium is also planning to invest €8 billion in the domestic production of hydrogen and the French city of Dijon is launching a €100 million euro green hydrogen project to reduce the CO2 emissions of the territory’s public transport starting in 2023.

Aurora Energy Research reports that the size of electrolyzers is increasing. Furthermore, Chile moves forward with its first green hydrogen project and German car manufacturer BMW said it would unveil a hydrogen fuel cell SUV in 2022.

Furthermore, Canadian integrated energy company Suncor and Canadian holding company ATCO are looking into a potential “world scale clean hydrogen project” in Alberta, and Japanese energy company Eneos and Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer Toyota Motor, are exploring hydrogen applications at Woven City, a prototype city in Japan.