Much of the hydrogen discourse over the past decade has been aspirational: visions of a clean hydrogen economy, deep decarbonization of industry and transport, and futuristic power systems built around electrolysis. In many of my earlier pieces on OilPrice, I warned that hydrogen was entering a “reality phase” — where hype must give way to execution, economics, and scaling. Now we are beginning to see real projects crossing the threshold, and the balance is shifting. But the path forward is fragile: execution, policy alignment,…