Donfack fortune

Chinese alkaline electrolyzer system costs have fallen to approximately $1.0M/MW in 2025, against approximately $2.0–2.5M/MW for Western equivalents — a gap that has widened as Chinese manufacturing capacity expanded to 39 GW/year against demand that generated only 693 MW of procurement in the first ten months of 2024. The cost trajectory is real. Its implication for green hydrogen competitiveness requires more precision than the headline numbers provide.

The dominant framing of the interconnection queue problem centres on process dysfunction: serial study sequences, first-come-first-served rules that reward speculative submissions over prepared ones, inadequate staffing at ISO and RTO study teams, and regulatory lag in implementing FERC-mandated reforms. These are real problems. FERC Order 2023's shift to cluster-based processing, financial readiness requirements, and mandatory study deadlines addresses them meaningfully.

The nuclear fuel cycle comprises six distinct industrial stages, from ore processing through to reactor operation. African countries — collectively holding approximately 18% of global uranium reserves — participate in exactly one of them. This is not a policy observation. It is a supply chain constraint with quantifiable consequences. Yellowcake leaves African mines at approximately $70 per kilogram. Fabricated fuel assemblies re-enter the continent at $1,500–$2,000 per kilogram of contained uranium.