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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Is electrolyser technology good enough to build a large-scale hydrogen economy?
28/5/2025
10 min read
Feature
Development of electrolysers which split water into hydrogen and oxygen will be critical to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In particular for decarbonising hard-to-abate industries, with electrolysis powered by renewable energy. Although electrolysis capacity is growing from a relatively low base today, there is need for significant acceleration to reach the net zero target, writes New Energy World Features Editor Brian Davis.
The hydrogen economy sounds very appealing on the road to net zero. But when is it likely to deliver its full potential?
The global installed capacity of the electrolyser market is relatively low, having reached only 1.4 GW at the end of 2023, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). While global electrolyser manufacturing capacity doubled since 2022 to reach 25 GW by end-2023, there’s still a long way to go to meet net zero targets. Numerous green hydrogen projects are in the pipeline and are forecast to reach an installed capacity of 230–520 GW. However, the IEA notes ‘the majority of these projects is still at early stages of development, and only around 20 GW have taken final investment decision (FID)’.
In fact, to reach the IEA’s net zero emissions 2050 scenario, installed electrolysis capacity would have to climb to 560 GW by 2030 alone. Is this feasible, given the current geopolitical situation, the Trump administration’s negative approach to renewables, and a challenging global economy?