PHOTO
The total global announced capacity for hydrogen projects hit 71.4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), but fell short of becoming a record year in 2022, UK-based research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie said in a new report.
The global hydrogen pipeline slowed last year despite a record 12 MTPA of project capacity announcements in the first quarter of 2022. However, only 1 MTPA of new projects were announced in fourth quarter 2022, as total capacity announcements missed 2021 by 3 MTPA.
“2022 was marked by the energy crisis and a slew of policy announcements from the EU, US and UK supporting hydrogen production," said Flor Lucia De la Cruz, senior research analyst, Hydrogen and Emerging Technologies at Wood Mackenzie.
"Despite this, announcements slowed through the year as developers shifted their focus to de-risking the existing project pipeline."
Record electrolyser manufacturing announcements counterbalanced the slowdown in project announcements.
Wood Mackenzie said that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) chased the 360GWe pipeline with a record 83GWe in manufacturing announcements in 2022.
About 45GWe of electrolyser manufacturing capacity was announced in fourth quarter 2022, up 72 percent from third quarter 2022. Of these, 41GWe were from gigafactories based in Africa.
“A year ago, electrolyser manufacturing capacity looked like a bottleneck. OEMs have responded so swiftly that there is a risk of significant manufacturing overcapacity by 2025, particularly if production projects fail to progress,” De la Cruz stated.
(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)
