Electrolyzer Manufacturing Capacity

Exponential growth in clean hydrogen production projects around the world will drive strong demand for “electrolyzers” over a multi-decade timespan.  Electrolyzers are the primary technology used to produce clean hydrogen and manufacturers of this complex device will need to ramp capacity to address the steep adoption curve. Some of this added capacity will be provided by electrolyzer specialists such as ITM Power and Nel Hydrogen which have recently opened new factories and are planning further expansions. However, the opportunity is large enough to also attract some of the world’s top equipment manufacturers. For example:

Siemens Energy AG
Siemens Energy recently announced it will invest €30 million in new electrolyzer production lines at its Huttenstrasse facility in Berlin. In March, Siemens Energy was awarded a 50MW electrolyzer contract for an e-Methanol project that will supply methanol derived from clean hydrogen to the shipping company Maersk among others.

Cummins Inc.
In June 2021, Cummins announced the construction of a €50 million electrolyzer manufacturing facility in Spain with initial capacity of 50MW beginning in 2023 and growing to 1GW over time. Cummins has also formed a JV with Sinopec to build an electrolyzer manufacturing facility in China. Cummins was recently awarded the contract for a 25MW electrolyzer to be employed in a clean hydrogen production facility being developed by Florida Power & Light.

ThyssenKrupp AG
Earlier this year, ThyssenKrupp announced that its leading alkaline electrolyzer business would re-brand as ThyssenKrupp Nucera and explore an IPO. ThyssenKrupp Nucera is supplying electrolyzers to three important clean hydrogen projects currently in progress around the world: the 2GW Element One project in NEOM Saudi Arabia, a 200MW plant being built in the Netherlands by Shell and a recently announced 10 metric tons per day facility being developed in Arizona by Air Products for launch in 2023.

These new factories and others will create economies of scale and competition that will be critical to driving down the cost of clean hydrogen.