News: AltPwr

BP Drops Hydrogen Plan in Australia

BP first bought a 40.5% operating stake in the Australian Renewable Energy Hub project in 2022, and its share in the joint venture grew to 63.57% in recent years. The project would include the installation of up to 26 GW of solar and wind generation, much of which would have been used to produce green hydrogen and ammonia.

British energy major BP has informed its partners that it intends to exit the $55 billion (USD 36.14 billion) green energy hub planned for Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Source: PV Magazine: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: BP’s decision (which reflects BP’s recent strategy reset) comes after energy and mining giant Fortescue formally announced it has abandoned plans for a green hydrogen project in Queensland and is another blow to hydrogen in Australia.    PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

Restructured Water Boosts Electrolysis Efficiency

In a paper published in August 2025 in JACS Au (American Chemical Society), Chinese researchers showed that by steering the hydrogen-bond network of interfacial water via a steady magnetic field, they sliced off about 50 millivolts of overpotential for the hydrogen evolution reaction and cranked current density up by 15.4% under industrial alkaline electrolysis conditions.

Water molecules near the electrode reshuffle into more asymmetrical clusters. These lopsided water gangs hand off protons and electrons much faster, slicing the energy penalty for hydrogen evolution.

Source: Hydrogen Fuel News: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Saving a few tens of millivolts might sound small, but when you scale it up to an industrial scale it translates to serious energy savings. For green hydrogen producers, that could mean lower operating costs, ramped-up throughput, and a sharper edge in the market, all of which can encourage hydrogen production and make it cheaper and hence more readily available for those industries and vehicles that could use it.   PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research