3 ms·

> 2022 And that was specifically due to the (ongoing) Russian Invasion of Ukraine. After the 2022 spike, most large countries began building alternative supply

> 2022 And that was specifically due to the (ongoing) Russian Invasion of Ukraine. After the 2022 spike, most large countries began building alternative supply chains to reduce impacts from these kinds of hits. For example, the US and Europe largely doesn't use urea unlike Brazil, India, and China. This is also why Asian countries have been investing heavily in Hydrogen energy despite HN's hate boner to the technology. Edit: can't reply > Is it really hydrogen energy if your plan for the hydrogen gas is turning it into ammonia? Would give you another use for it, I suppose The whole point of building a hydrogen energy market is becuase hydrogen electrolyzers are dual use, and the methodology to leverage and produce "green" ammonia is similar to "green" hydrogen. A non-LNG method to mass produce ammonia has always been called out in most countries Hydrogen energy roadmaps such as Japan [0], China [1], and India [2]. [0] - https://grjapan.com/sites/default/files/content/articles/files/Japan%27s%20hydrogen%20and%20ammonia%20policy%20-%20overview%20and%20key%20developments%20%28final%29_1.pdf https://grjapan.com/sites/default/files/content/articles/fil... [1] - https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2022/09/china_green_hydrogen_new_era_renewable_hydrogen_roadmap.pdf https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2022/09/china... [2] - https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/1033081/adbi-wp1491.pdf https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/1033081/...

extraduder_ire 8mo ago
Is it really hydrogen energy if your plan for the hydrogen gas is turning it into ammonia? Would give you another use for it, I suppose.
- discarded1023 8mo ago
  There were plans to build a hydrogen plant near Whyalla in South Australia, a famous steel-making site; see e.g. [1]. The tl;dr uses were export (I expected ammonia but the whole thing was vague enough to include hydrogen) on boats, reduction of iron ore ("decarbonisation", apparently requires magnetite) and while all the financial engineering that didn't happen was going to happen, energy storage for the grid, soaking up S.A.'s over-abundant solar. Someone observed that this was the entirety of the presently-outgoing (but sure to be re-elected) state regime's story about reducing electricity bills in the state. [1] https://research.csiro.au/hyresource/south-australian-government-hydrogen-facility/ https://research.csiro.au/hyresource/south-australian-govern...
pm3003 8mo ago
The Economist was recently citing hydrogen as "deep tech" [1] (meaning long R&D cycles, sometimes unproven techniology no short term profitability, heavy investment, industry-wide transformative power). Most of your sources have plans focused on hydrogen production, but I'd be interested to see specific targets or plans regarding specific uses like fertilizers. There are some in the Hydrogen Roadmap Europe, but it seems focused on transportation [2]. [1] - https://www.economist.com/business/2026/03/01/at-last-reasons-to-be-cheerful-about-european-tech https://www.economist.com/business/2026/03/01/at-last-reason... [2] - https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/media/publications/hydrogen-roadmap-europe-sustainable-pathway-european-energy-transition_en https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/media/publications/hydr...
- alephnerd 8mo ago
  > I'd be interested to see specific targets or plans regarding specific uses like fertilizers It's primarily in Asia and North Africa. For example, India has begun building a 7GW green hydrogen project specifically for urea production [0] and as a technical demonstration. An Egypt-Germany-Norway JV is also expected to be completed by 2027 explicitly for this usecase [1] [0] - https://fuelcellsworks.com/2026/02/04/fuel-cells/india-s-7gw-green-hydrogen-project-to-supply-ammonia-for-first-large-scale-green-urea-plant https://fuelcellsworks.com/2026/02/04/fuel-cells/india-s-7gw... [1] - https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/pressdetailpage/mopco-to-enhance-sustainable-urea-and-ammonia-production-with-thyssenkrupp-uhde's-carbon-capture-and-green-ammonia-solutions-295087 https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/pres...
pjc50 8mo ago
A lot of the hate for hydrogen is for a vehicle fuel where it's strictly inferior to batteries, partly because it's such a pain to handle, and partly because it's a "submarine" for natural gas derived H2. Evolving hydrogen from electrolysis and then immediately turning it into ammonia is a much better idea; ammonia is easier to handle than H2 gas and already has a market.

extraduder_ire 8mo ago

Is it really hydrogen energy if your plan for the hydrogen gas is turning it into ammonia? Would give you another use for it, I suppose.

discarded1023 8mo ago
There were plans to build a hydrogen plant near Whyalla in South Australia, a famous steel-making site; see e.g. [1]. The tl;dr uses were export (I expected ammonia but the whole thing was vague enough to include hydrogen) on boats, reduction of iron ore ("decarbonisation", apparently requires magnetite) and while all the financial engineering that didn't happen was going to happen, energy storage for the grid, soaking up S.A.'s over-abundant solar. Someone observed that this was the entirety of the presently-outgoing (but sure to be re-elected) state regime's story about reducing electricity bills in the state. [1] https://research.csiro.au/hyresource/south-australian-government-hydrogen-facility/ https://research.csiro.au/hyresource/south-australian-govern...

pm3003 8mo ago

The Economist was recently citing hydrogen as "deep tech" [1] (meaning long R&D cycles, sometimes unproven techniology no short term profitability, heavy investment, industry-wide transformative power). Most of your sources have plans focused on hydrogen production, but I'd be interested to see specific targets or plans regarding specific uses like fertilizers. There are some in the Hydrogen Roadmap Europe, but it seems focused on transportation [2]. [1] - https://www.economist.com/business/2026/03/01/at-last-reasons-to-be-cheerful-about-european-tech https://www.economist.com/business/2026/03/01/at-last-reason... [2] - https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/media/publications/hydrogen-roadmap-europe-sustainable-pathway-european-energy-transition_en https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/media/publications/hydr...

alephnerd 8mo ago
> I'd be interested to see specific targets or plans regarding specific uses like fertilizers It's primarily in Asia and North Africa. For example, India has begun building a 7GW green hydrogen project specifically for urea production [0] and as a technical demonstration. An Egypt-Germany-Norway JV is also expected to be completed by 2027 explicitly for this usecase [1] [0] - https://fuelcellsworks.com/2026/02/04/fuel-cells/india-s-7gw-green-hydrogen-project-to-supply-ammonia-for-first-large-scale-green-urea-plant https://fuelcellsworks.com/2026/02/04/fuel-cells/india-s-7gw... [1] - https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/pressdetailpage/mopco-to-enhance-sustainable-urea-and-ammonia-production-with-thyssenkrupp-uhde's-carbon-capture-and-green-ammonia-solutions-295087 https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/pres...

pjc50 8mo ago

A lot of the hate for hydrogen is for a vehicle fuel where it's strictly inferior to batteries, partly because it's such a pain to handle, and partly because it's a "submarine" for natural gas derived H2. Evolving hydrogen from electrolysis and then immediately turning it into ammonia is a much better idea; ammonia is easier to handle than H2 gas and already has a market.