The capacity of electrolyser projects in development across the world has hit 1.2TW, Aurora Energy Research has revealed.
Issuing the latest update to its global electrolyser database, Aurora found the pipeline has grown 66GW since its last update back in April. While this is a lower rise (6%) compared to the previous six months (18%), notably the development of projects advancing beyond the early planning stage has sped up. Capacity here has hit 182GW, which is a 48GW rise (32%) since April.
South America is leading the way in terms of the largest share of projects added, with much of this down to the 25GW Amigos del Verano project in Chile. Oceania follows with 20GW being announced since April. While Europe is still the most popular location for electrolyser projects overall, its share of the pipeline has dropped from 56% to 46%.
Global electrolyser manufacturing capacity, meanwhile, is due to hit 59GW a year in 2025, with cumulative capacity worldwide expected to allow manufacturers to produce 506GW of electrolysers by 2030. This is substantially more than the 315GW required to deliver the current project pipeline. Europe, which currently dominates the manufacturing pipeline, is set to see its share drop from 58% in 2024 to 47% by 2025. It does remain the frontrunner for project delivery, however.
Operational electrolyser capacity today is just 790MW, accounting for less than 3% of the average electricity demand seen in the UK. Financing is the biggest challenge standing in the way of future growth, making government support key to helping developers realise their projects. Administrations across Europe are stepping up, with planned auction schemes in the region expected to procure 2.5GW of hydrogen by 2025 and the next six months in particular set to be crucial. In this time, governments are set to announce support allocations for more than 400MW of capacity.
