Cmb-Tech has started operations at a green hydrogen facility in Walvis Bay featuring 5 MW of off-grid solar, a 5 MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer and 5.9 MWh of battery energy storage. The project, developed with Namibia’s Ohlthaver & List Group, has around 7,000 solar modules installed across 6.5 hectares. The developers describe it as Africa’s first fully integrated green hydrogen facility. Hydrogen produced at the site will be used in dual-fuel trucks and generators, with railway and maritime applications also planned. CMB.TECH is an initial offtaker and plans to test a hydrogen-powered freight locomotive. Siemens supplied the facility’s integrated electrical, automation and safety systems. The site also includes a hydrogen refueling station and a training center. Cmb.Tech said it plans to scale the project first to 250 MW and later to 500 MW, with potential future production of green ammonia for maritime applications. The facility adds to Namibia’s emerging hydrogen sector. HyIron’s Oshivela project began producing green hydrogen in March 2025 using a 12 MW electrolyzer powered by a 25 MW solar plant.
Tohoku University researchers have used iron oxide in a photocatalytic reaction to split water using light energy. The Japanese researchers found that photocatalytic water splitting occurs when iron oxide doped with about 1% titanium is combined with rhodium-doped strontium titanate, a hydrogen-generating photocatalyst. Electrochemical measurements showed that titanium doping reduces electrical resistance and improves n-type semiconductor properties, promoting the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes and enabling water-splitting activity.
Researchers at the University of Nottingham have investigated the microscopic structure of metal swarf from manufacturing processes as a potential substrate for hydrogen-production catalysts. Using advanced imaging, the UK researchers found nanoscale grooves and ridges on waste stainless steel, titanium and nickel alloys that can act as anchoring sites for precious metals. The team deposited small amounts of platinum onto the waste metal to produce electrocatalysts capable of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Researchers at Durham University have found that suitable depleted North Sea fields could provide 3,659 TWh of hydrogen storage capacity, equivalent to more than seven years of projected UK electricity demand in 2040. The researchers said using the fields for hydrogen storage could also enable conventional gas-fired power plants to be phased out of the UK electricity system by 2040. Current UK hydrogen storage plans focus on salt caverns and do not include depleted fields.
Researchers at Seoul National University of Science and Technology (Seoultech) have developed an AI-based system that increased the hydrogen production efficiency of a solid oxide electrolysis cell system by 14% while reducing internal temperature spikes by 80%. The researchers said the approach uses machine learning to identify the most informative simulations, reducing the computational resources required to determine promising operating conditions while limiting thermal stresses that can affect equipment lifetime.
China has instructed its oil and gas industry to develop large-scale green hydrogen production projects, as well as hydrogen pipeline and storage infrastructure, under a new national five-year plan. The policy calls for hydrogen and its derivatives to be integrated with the country’s existing oil and gas infrastructure, including its extensive pipeline network. The plan does not specify quantitative targets, with implementation expected to depend on hydrogen market development and cooperation with local governments.
