Hydrogen Council Presses for Scale as Africa Lists 24 Projects
South Africa's JET programme office counted 24 hydrogen projects as the Hydrogen Council's co-chair told an African summit that energy security now makes scaling the fuel a vital priority.
At the Africa Green Hydrogen Summit in South Africa on 18 September 2026, Hydrogen Council co-chairperson and Air Liquide CEO François Jackow urged the world to "bring hydrogen to scale" as South Africa's Just Energy Transition Investment Plan programme management office, housed at the Industrial Development Corporation, said it had identified 24 hydrogen projects.
The pitch for green hydrogen has shifted. For most of the past decade it was sold as a decarbonisation tool — a way to strip carbon out of steel, fertiliser, refining and heavy transport. At the Africa Green Hydrogen Summit in South Africa, the argument put forward was blunter and more strategic: hydrogen is an energy security instrument, and the world is not building it fast enough.
Hydrogen Council co-chairperson François Jackow, who is also chief executive of industrial gases group Air Liquide, told the summit the world should "bring hydrogen to scale", and said the energy disruption triggered by the conflict in the Middle East had reminded everyone that energy security is a "vital priority". That framing matters commercially. Decarbonisation arguments compete with cost; security arguments compete with risk, and risk is what moves government money.
What South Africa actually has on the table
The concrete number out of the summit came from the programme management office for South Africa's Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, housed at the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation. That office said it has identified 24 hydrogen projects, and green hydrogen was declared integral to a new industrial framework being set out at the event, as reported by Mining Weekly.
Twenty-four identified projects is a pipeline statement, not a construction statement, and the distinction is the single most important thing for anyone reading this as an investment signal. In hydrogen, a project passes through several gates before it is real: concept, pre-feasibility, feasibility, permitting and grid or port connection, offtake contracting, and then final investment decision. Identification sits at the front of that queue. The industry's persistent problem worldwide has been attrition between the announcement stage and the FID stage — announced capacity has consistently run far ahead of capacity that reaches a signed, financed commitment.
South Africa's specific advantages are physical rather than fiscal. It has strong solar and wind resource, deep-water port infrastructure on two oceans, an existing Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels industry with hydrogen handling experience, and a platinum group metals endowment that feeds directly into electrolyser and fuel-cell manufacturing. Its disadvantages are equally concrete: a constrained national grid, water stress in several candidate regions, and a cost of capital that lengthens the payback on capital-heavy plant.
Why the security argument is doing the heavy lifting
Jackow's linkage of hydrogen to Middle East energy disruption is a deliberate repositioning of the asset class. When hydrogen is judged purely on levelised cost against grey hydrogen made from natural gas, it loses in most markets without a subsidy or a carbon price. When it is judged as insurance against imported fuel shocks, the comparison changes: the relevant benchmark becomes the cost of exposure to a supply route that can close, not the spot price of methane on a calm day.
That is the same logic that has driven European industrial gas and utility strategy since the last round of gas price shocks, and it is the logic that makes African export projects interesting to buyers in Europe and East Asia. An electron-to-molecule chain built on domestic wind and sun cannot be blockaded in the way a tanker lane can. For a producer country, the same project is an industrialisation play — ammonia, fertiliser, green iron and bunker fuel made at home rather than raw electrons sold cheap.
The catch is that security arguments need a counterparty willing to pay a premium for security. Without long-dated offtake at a price above grey hydrogen, no amount of strategic logic closes a project financing. That is why offtake, not resource, is the binding constraint on almost every African hydrogen proposal, and why the count of identified projects should be read alongside the count of signed offtake agreements — a figure the summit did not put a number on.
The supply chain that gets paid first
For readers following the metals side of the energy transition, the practical transmission mechanism from a summit speech to a purchase order runs through hardware. Electrolysers built on proton-exchange-membrane technology consume platinum and iridium; fuel cells consume platinum. Alkaline electrolysers lean on nickel. Balance-of-plant demand runs to steel, copper for cabling and transformers, and industrial gas handling equipment.
For readers following the metals side of the energy transition, the practical transmission mechanism from a summit speech to a purchase order runs through hardware.
That gives South Africa an unusual position: it is simultaneously a candidate host for hydrogen production and a supplier of the catalyst metals that hydrogen equipment needs. A domestic build-out that anchored electrolyser or stack assembly locally would capture more of the value chain than exporting concentrate and importing finished plant. Whether the new industrial framework flagged at the summit actually mandates local content is the detail worth tracking once documents are published.
Industrial gas companies sit at the other end. Air Liquide, whose chief executive delivered the scale-up message, is one of a small group of firms that already own hydrogen production, liquefaction, pipeline and distribution assets at industrial scale — the incumbents best placed to convert policy ambition into contracted volumes, and the ones with the balance sheet to wait.
What to watch from here
- Conversion, not count. How many of the 24 identified South African projects publish a feasibility study, and how many reach a final investment decision. The gap between those two numbers is the real health check on the pipeline.
- Offtake and price. Signed, long-dated purchase agreements with European or Asian buyers, and whether any disclose an indexation formula rather than a headline volume.
- Grid and water consents. Transmission connection and water-use licences are the two permits that most often stall African hydrogen schemes, regardless of resource quality.
- Local content rules. Whether the industrial framework attaches manufacturing obligations to electrolyser and stack supply, which would change the demand picture for platinum group metals processing at home.
- Policy durability. Whether the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan's programme office is given standing procurement authority or remains a coordinating body.
The market backdrop
The summit landed on a mixed session for broad equities. As of the last trade at 19:04 GMT on Friday, 18 September 2026, the S&P 500 tracker (NYSEARCA: SPY) stood at $761.25, down 0.18% from the previous close of $762.60, with a day range of $757.97 to $762.54. The Nasdaq 100 proxy (NASDAQ: QQQ) was at $719.37, up 0.34%, while the Dow 30 vehicle (NYSEARCA: DIA) slipped 0.39% to $516.34. Nothing in that tape reflects hydrogen policy; it is simply the risk environment into which capital-intensive, long-dated energy projects are currently trying to raise money — and a flat-to-soft equity market with a high cost of capital is a harder place to close a twenty-year infrastructure financing than a cheap one.
Which is the underlying tension in Jackow's appeal. The strategic case for hydrogen has arguably never been stronger, because supply route risk has rarely been more visible. The financing case has not improved at the same speed. Identified projects are the cheap part. The scale the council is asking for gets decided at the FID gate.
Key facts
- Projects identified: 24 hydrogen projects listed by South Africa's JET Investment Plan programme office at the Industrial Development Corporation
- Who called for scale: Hydrogen Council co-chairperson and Air Liquide CEO François Jackow, urging the world to "bring hydrogen to scale"
- Stated driver: Energy security, described as a "vital priority" after disruption tied to the conflict in the Middle East
- Market backdrop: SPY $761.25 (-0.18%), QQQ $719.37 (+0.34%), DIA $516.34 (-0.39%) as of 19:04 GMT, 18 Sep 2026
Frequently asked questions
How many hydrogen projects has South Africa identified?
The programme management office for South Africa's Just Energy Transition Investment Plan, which sits within the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation, told the Africa Green Hydrogen Summit it has identified 24 hydrogen projects. Identification is an early pipeline stage and does not mean the projects are financed, permitted or under construction.
Who is François Jackow and what did he say?
François Jackow is co-chairperson of the global Hydrogen Council and chief executive of industrial gases group Air Liquide. Speaking at the Africa Green Hydrogen Summit in South Africa, he urged the world to "bring hydrogen to scale" and said energy problems triggered by the conflict in the Middle East had reminded everyone that energy security is a "vital priority".
What is green hydrogen?
Green hydrogen is hydrogen made by splitting water in an electrolyser powered by renewable electricity, so the process emits no carbon dioxide at the point of production. It contrasts with grey hydrogen, which is made from natural gas and is currently cheaper in most markets, and is aimed at steel, fertiliser, refining and heavy transport.
Why does energy security matter to the hydrogen argument?
Judged on cost alone, green hydrogen generally loses to gas-derived hydrogen without a subsidy or carbon price. Framed as security, the comparison changes: domestically produced hydrogen from local wind and solar cannot be interrupted by a blockaded shipping lane or a closed pipeline, so buyers may value it as insurance rather than as the cheapest molecule.
What does hydrogen have to do with mining and metals?
Electrolysers and fuel cells consume platinum group metals — notably platinum and iridium in proton-exchange-membrane systems — while alkaline electrolysers use nickel. Build-out also needs steel and copper for cabling and transformers. South Africa is unusual in being both a candidate hydrogen producer and a major source of the catalyst metals the equipment requires.
What is the main obstacle to these projects going ahead?
Offtake. Almost every African hydrogen proposal has adequate wind and solar resource, but few have long-dated contracts from buyers willing to pay above the price of gas-derived hydrogen. Without that, projects cannot reach a final investment decision. Grid connection and water-use permits are the other common stalling points.
