The Green Hydrogen Catapult Announces Expansion of Green Hydrogen Deployment

Members of the Green Hydrogen Catapult (GHC), a coalition of leaders in green hydrogen development, have announced a commitment for 45 GW of electrolyzers to be developed with secured financing by 2026, with targeted commissioning in 2027.The initial target set by the coalition at the time of its launch in December 2020, was 25GW.

“Green hydrogen is a critical part of a sustainable energy future and one of the largest business opportunities of our time,” said Jules Kortenhorst, CEO at RMI. “It’s the key to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like steel manufacturing, shipping and aviation, and I applaud GHC members for their commitment to accelerating the transition.”

Electrolyzers, use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and are the leading technology for synthesizing zero-carbon hydrogen fuel using renewable energy, known as green hydrogen. Green hydrogen and derivatives are an essential solution to the decarbonization of heavy industry sectors and will constitute up to 25% of total final energy use in a net-zero economy.

“With 80% growth in their capacity commitment in one year, the Catapult and its members demonstrate the near-term potential for exponential growth in green hydrogen, enabled by local and global policy support and rapidly growing customer interest,” says Nigel Topping, UN High Level Champion for Global Climate Action.

This bold new commitment from GHC members, the largest announced by a private sector coalition, will bring global green hydrogen production in line with International Energy Agency production targets for net zero, as it adds to the existing project pipeline of 25GW. It will play a central role in delivering the Glasgow Breakthrough on Green Hydrogen to stimulate enabling policy measures on the necessary timeframe. As part of a broader adoption strategy, this announcement represents a significant contribution to deploying green hydrogen at the scale and speed required to reduce costs to well below the tipping point of US$2 per kilogram. This will enable green hydrogen to be a cost-competitive, zero-carbon solution in the near term.

“We are not waiting. The time is now to build the green hydrogen industry, and Fortescue Future Industries is aiming to supply 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen to the world by 2030,” Julie Shuttleworth, CEO of Fortescue Future Industries.