It is expected that the global supply capacity of hydrogen electrolyzers will increase by 143% in the next two years. Of these, China, Europe and the United States will lead the growth of electrolyzers, but Asia and the rest of Africa will be players over the next four years.
According to a "hydrogen cell supplier" report released this week by the clean energy services and advisory company Clean Energy Associates (CEA), which is based in the United States and China. After growing by 103% between 2022 and 2023, global hydrogen cell supply capacity is expected to grow by 143% in the next two years.
Suppliers are rapidly expanding the capacity of their electrolyzers to meet market demand, with six suppliers producing more than 1 GW per year. The report outlines that from 2022, suppliers will begin to rapidly expand their production capacity to the multi-gigawatt level. " (Hydrogen electrolyzer) suppliers include established companies with decades of experience in water electrolysis technology, as well as new entrants that use their manufacturing scale and synergistic industry expertise to quickly tap into the electrolyzer space," the CEA said.
Supplier optimism and increasing order volumes are driving strong growth. In addition, new players are starting to chase incumbents through rapidly growing revenues from their green hydrogen businesses, the report added.
In addition, China, Europe, and the United States will continue to lead in electrolyzer manufacturing capacity, driven by their relatively mature domestic value chains, geopolitical energy needs, and cost advantages. China, Europe and the United States will lead the growth of electrolyzers, but Asia and the rest of Africa will be players over the next four years,
the report notes.
In terms of electrolyzer technology, alkaline electrolyzer technology is dominant, accounting for 66% of global capacity, of which proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology accounts for 17.6%, solid oxide electrolyzer (SOEC) technology accounts for 16.2%, and anion exchange membrane (AEM) technology accounts for only 0.2% of supplier capacity. The top five alkaline electrolyzer suppliers are leading the way in gigawatt scale capacity, with more than 70% of alkaline electrolyzer providers located in China.
About 80% of PEM cell production capacity can be attributed to four suppliers, with the majority of PEM production capacity concentrated in the United States and Europe. Few vendors offer multiple technologies. In addition, SOEC capacity from solid oxide technology company Bloom Energyd is dominant, with 2 GW/year of electrolyzer capacity.
CEA said that Enapter, an AEM electrolyzer technology company, is still the only supplier with AEM capacity, and its capacity is very limited.
At the same time, among the four technologies mentioned in the report, the technology maturity of alkaline electrolyzer is the highest. Alkaline technology also has a relatively simple stack and system design, and a single stack can have a large size. Although this technology has a relatively low current density, it does offer a low price.
PEM is a mature technology that can have small, compact stack sizes and high current densities. However, this technology relies on precious metal catalysts. Despite the technology's high price tag, CEAsays said, they are fast to start and can handle high operating pressures. The hydrogen production capacity of
the PEM single cell stack is much smaller than that of the alkaline stack, but the average DC energy consumption of the two technologies is similar at 4.5 K Wh/m3 of hydrogen. PEM cells typically have a wider operating load range than alkaline cells, but the average capacity of a PEM stack is 200 m3/H of hydrogen and the largest commercial stack is 500 m3/H. In contrast, most alkaline electrolyzer products have a capacity of 1000 m3/H, and all alkaline electrolyzer suppliers in China can produce large electrolyzers.
At the same time, AEM is an emerging technology that combines the advantages of alkaline and PEM, despite its current short membrane life, the report notes. In addition, SOEC is an emerging technology that provides high efficiency, despite the need for high-value heat and high upfront costs. The small size of SOEC and AEM cell stacks makes them difficult to integrate into large systems, and the number of suppliers is limited.
However, despite the very small stack size of SOEC and AEM technologies, they can theoretically achieve low batch production costs due to the highly automated production process. In addition, the CEA report States that SOEC has a very low level of energy consumption, below 3 kWh/m3, which can be further reduced by using waste heat to generate steam.
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