Rystad Energy says China appears set to smash its national hydrogen targets, solidifying its lead in the global electrolyzer market, while European Union and Japan have agreed to cooperate on hydrogen research.

At a time of growing demand for battery energy storage, pv magazine spoke with Eloisa de Castro, CEO of Enerpoly, a Swedish company preparing to launch the world’s first zinc-ion battery megafactory on its home turf. Having solved rechargeability issues, the company expects its safe and sustainable zinc-ion batteries, which rely solely on a European supply chain, to increase their market share in the years to come.

Analysts at the recent BNEF Summit in Munich discussed delays for hydrogen adoption in European countries, noting that locations are crucial for predicting which hydrogen production plans will proceed. Projects in areas with high amounts of renewables have an advantage.

The European Commission says it has started working on a new pilot mechanism, and Italy has agreed to expand collaboration with Austria and Germany, while also supporting cooperation between Italian companies and Finland’s Wärtsilä.

Scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) have developed a highly oxygen-deficient perovskite for protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs), while the European Commission has approved its fourth Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI).

Clean Power Hydrogen (CPH2) is launching membraneless electrolyzers with cryogenic systems to separate hydrogen and oxygen. It is producing them in the United Kingdom and is collaborating with other companies for production in Germany and New Zealand. It says it expects 4 GW of combined production capacity by 2030.

Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) says in a new report that blue hydrogen might not be an effective climate solution, while TotalEnergies and its partners have agreed to explore green hydrogen potential in Tunisia.

Italy installed 1.72 GW of new solar capacity in the first quarter, bringing its cumulative installed PV capacity to 32.0 GW by the end of March, according to Italia Solare, the nation’s solar energy association.

Nikola plans to sell 100 hydrogen fuel-cell trucks for logistic operations in California, Volvo has started developing hydrogen combustion trucks, and Airbus has announced plans to launch a study into hydrogen projects in the US state of Georgia.

BloombergNEF (BNEF) says in a new study of 1,600 planned hydrogen projects that governments will miss their 2030 hydrogen targets. Analyst Adithya Bhashyam tells pv magazine that most of the announced projects to the end of this decade lack the key conditions for success.