At least twice already this year, renewable energy megaproject plans have been unveiled – first a 25GW giant in Oman, then one double that size Australia – that are of a scale to send industry observers’ jaws dropping.

The announcements had two things in common. Both aim to link vast wind and solar capacity to green hydrogen or ammonia production from desert locations near the coast, and both are being developed by consortia which include the until recently little-known InterContinental Energy.