Gigawatt-scale ambition in Central Asia, regulatory patience in Brussels, and a market that keeps sorting winners from write-offs: the Power-to-X news of the past few days reads like a sector growing up. Here is what mattered — and why it matters for Switzerland.
Sasol and Topsoe to supply the technology for a 2.4 GW e-fuels plant in Uzbekistan
Zaffra, the joint venture of Sasol and Topsoe, has secured a technology contract for a 2.4 GW e-fuels plant in Uzbekistan — one of the largest Power-to-Liquid projects announced anywhere in the world. The pairing is telling: Topsoe brings the electrolysis and synthesis end, Sasol decades of Fischer-Tropsch practice. Gigawatt-scale Power-to-Liquid is no longer a slide in a strategy deck; it is a technology contract with a signature on it. Hydrogen Insight, 14 July 2026
Brussels delays the RFNBO review to the autumn — new hydrogen strategy due by year’s end
The review of the delegated act on renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO) has slipped to the autumn. In parallel, the European Commission has announced a new EU hydrogen strategy by the end of 2026. Both matter well beyond the EU’s borders: the RFNBO rules define what counts as a renewable molecule, and therefore what a European offtaker is willing to pay for. Every Swiss project with an export ambition — or an EU customer — is planning against a rulebook that is now being rewritten more slowly than the market would like. We reported in March that MEPs were pushing for exactly the opposite: speed. Hydrogen Insight, 15 July 2026
Samsung and Jera explore cooperation on green hydrogen and ammonia
Samsung and the Japanese energy group Jera intend to work together internationally on the production and supply chains for green hydrogen and e-ammonia. Asia’s large utilities are positioning themselves as buyers of molecules they will not produce at home — which is precisely the demand signal that makes gigawatt projects elsewhere financeable. Hydrogen Insight, 15 July 2026
UK rules out ring-fenced funding for e-SAF in its coming subsidy auction
The British government will not reserve any of its upcoming SAF subsidy auction exclusively for hydrogen-based e-SAF. Power-to-Liquid developers will have to compete head-on with cheaper bio-based routes — a setback for e-SAF in the UK market, and a reminder that the fuel with the best long-term defossilisation profile rarely wins a purely price-based auction. Hydrogen Insight, 14 July 2026
Plug Power scraps its Texas green hydrogen project
Plug Power has abandoned its planned green hydrogen project in Texas and sold the site to a data centre developer. The buyer says a great deal about where cheap power is going in the United States right now. Consolidation in the US market continues, and the projects that survive it are the ones with a contracted offtaker rather than a hoped-for one. Hydrogen Insight, 13 July 2026
OMV secures a €450 million EIB loan for a plant already under construction
The European Investment Bank is lending OMV €450 million for its electrolysis plant currently under construction. Note the tense: this is money for steel in the ground, not for a feasibility study. Public financing institutions are increasingly backing projects that have already cleared the hardest hurdle — the final investment decision. Hydrogen Insight, 13 July 2026
Lhyfe signs a ten-year offtake deal with Messer — and sells 30% of four sites
The French producer Lhyfe has secured a ten-year offtake agreement with the industrial gases group Messer. Messer is also taking a 30% stake in four Lhyfe production sites in France and Germany. This is the deal structure the sector has been waiting for: an industrial gases company with an existing customer book takes both the molecules and a share of the risk. Ten-year contracts are what turn an electrolyser into a bankable asset. Hydrogen Insight, 13 July 2026 · gasworld
India: BPCL and Akasa Air sign a SAF agreement
The state-owned oil group BPCL and the airline Akasa Air have agreed a framework for the supply and offtake of SAF-blended jet fuel at selected airports. BPCL is building a 61 kt-per-year SAF plant at its Mumbai refinery to serve it. Bio-based rather than Power-to-Liquid for now — but the blending infrastructure, certification and airport logistics being built today are exactly what e-SAF will run on tomorrow. BusinessToday, 15 July 2026
What this means for Power-to-X
Read together, the week points in one direction: capital and technology are available at gigawatt scale, and the binding constraints are regulation and offtake. Uzbekistan shows the ambition; Lhyfe and Messer show what makes it financeable; Plug Power’s Texas exit shows what happens without it; and Brussels’ delay shows how much of Europe’s project pipeline waits on the pen of a legislator.
Power-to-X Congress Switzerland 2026
«Reality Check with Net Zero» — 22 September 2026, 10–18h, Kursaal Bern. The Power-to-X Congress Switzerland 2026 is co-organised by energie-cluster.ch and the Swiss Power-to-X Collaborative Innovation Network (SPIN), with Réseau H2 Suisse Romande as partner. Programme and registration →