It was going to be a glorious Australian green-techno future, the largest hydrogen plant in the world, but it's missed three deadlines in the last three months to greenlight the project. Instead the Australian company is going overseas.

As Nick Cater points out this part of the made-in-Australia renewable superpower is going to be made-in-Arizona because they still have cheap electricity — a  miraculous 7.5c a kilowatt hour!

Australia's manufacturing decline is a story of broken promises and failed industry welfare programs

Nick Cater, The Australian

Bowen described the project's success as "critical" to Australia's ambition to be a green energy superpower.

It turns out abundant sun was not such a competitive advantage in the manufacture of green hydrogen. Low taxes, fiscally responsible government and cheap and reliable carbon-free energy are far more appealing drawcards for investors.

The future is already being built in Buckeye, Arizona, where Fortescue is investing $US500m ($765m) in a green hydrogen plant it says will be up and running by 2026.

In 2023, manufacturing in Arizona grew faster than in any other state. It includes energy and water-intensive industries such as silicon chip manufacturing, with Arizona coming from nowhere to fourth place among US states.

..It isn't hard to work out why. Arizona's top state income tax rate is 2.98 per cent. … For energy-hungry industries such as hydrogen and the IT sector, however, the biggest attraction is the industrial electricity price: 7.47 cents a kWh in Arizona compared to 18 cents in California.