Electrolysers: 58 GW of factory capacity, under 5 GW delivered

Hydrogen has spare factory capacity. Christoph Börger, founder of the eSAF Alliance, cites a report by Magnus Schwarz in ingenieur.de on the Hamburg expo: about 58 GW a year of electrolyser manufacturing capacity worldwide and under 5 GW delivered in 2025, chlor-alkali included.

The IEA had already measured the gap. Its electrolyser tracking page records 25 GW a year of capacity at end 2023, about 2.5 GW produced that year and utilisation near 10%, with China holding about 60% of capacity. In the Global Hydrogen Review 2026, installed capacity passes 4 GW in 2025.

What the idle factory lacks is a purchase contract. Börger recalls the ReFuelEU Aviation quota of 1.2% synthetic fuel on average in 2030 and 2031. The quota creates demand; orders only follow signed offtake.

Competition with China is likely to be settled on total plant cost, electricity and efficiency included, as the author notes. Whoever signs offtake first fills the capacity that sits idle today.