The Southern Lights team joined the 2025 World Hydrogen Summit & Expo in Rotterdam. With our own booth, valuable conversations with customers, and our CEO and co-founder Felipe Gallardo speaking on stage, this was an important moment to connect with the global hydrogen community and take stock of where the sector is heading.
What we heard on the ground
While the World Hydrogen Summit continues to be a key touchpoint for the hydrogen industry, this year’s event had a somewhat different feel. Attendance was slightly lower than in previous editions, and the overall tone among exhibitors and delegates reflected a shift in momentum. Many project developers we spoke with shared the view that activity in the sector has slowed in it’s previously rapid pace. Not due to lack of ambition, but as a result of the complex challenges that still need to be addressed.
Securing a reliable offtake agreement was frequently cited as the main gating item for green hydrogen and Power-to-X projects. Once offtake is on the table, developers turn their attention to how to balance CAPEX, structure subsidies, and build viable multi-revenue business models. The release of the European Hydrogen Bank auction results during the summit added a layer of fresh context to these discussions.
Felipe Gallardo on stage: Designing for bankability
As part of the conference program, our CEO and co-founder Felipe Gallardo took the stage with a talk titled “Level Up with Southern Lights: A Tailored Workspace for Bankable Power-to-X Project Development.”
Felipe shared how Southern Lights helps developers understand techno-economic complexity in early-stage project design, reduce risk, and create a clearer path to investment-readiness. The presentation sparked interest from teams working on hydrogen, e-fuels, and hybrid energy projects across Europe and beyond.
From demos to pain points: Meaningful booth interactions
At our booth, we had the pleasure of reconnecting with customers, demoing new features, and learning more about the real-world challenges developers are facing. These conversations reaffirmed how much our platform can help by simplifying feasibility work, giving structure to project risk analysis, and enabling teams to test different configurations faster and with more confidence.
Our Product Manager Noor Sisask shared this reflection:
– this was my first World Hydrogen Summit and I was impressed by all the efforts and innovation happening in this space across the world. It was great to meet customers and get to be part of presenting the awesome Southern Lights product.
It was clear to me during this summit more than ever before how much complexity and challenges exist in the world of developing a green hydrogen or PtX project, and that makes me extra proud and eager for Southern Lights to help business developers navigate this complexity and get better awareness of the risk and safe zones for their project.
A shifting landscape, but a clearer mission
One thing is clear from the World Hydrogen Summit: the road to scaling green hydrogen remains complex, but the need for clarity and practical tools is stronger than ever.
At Southern Lights, we’re committed to supporting developers in understanding their project’s risk profile, identifying viable pathways to bankability, and ultimately building projects that can move forward with confidence. Are you interested? Request a guided demo of our platform to see how we can help you!
The World Hydrogen Summit & Expo is a leading global event dedicated to the advancement of hydrogen solutions and technologies. Held annually in Rotterdam, it brings together policymakers, developers, investors, and technology providers to explore the latest developments in hydrogen production, infrastructure, and project deployment. The summit includes a high-level conference, extensive exhibition space, and networking opportunities designed to accelerate the hydrogen economy worldwide.
