In this article, Joe Hennessy, market analyst for PV Tech Research, gives an overview of the global green hydrogen market, discussing projects currently underway and in the pipeline, ahead of the first release of PV Tech Research’s green hydrogen database.
Green hydrogen production from the electrolysis of water is widely regarded as an exciting new energy source and has been the subject of intense global focus in the past few years, including incentives to create domestic supply in the U.S., Europe and many other countries.
This article provides an overview of global green hydrogen projects, how much has been built so far, and what is in the pipeline for the coming years with analysis and graphics taken directly from the first release of PV Tech Research’s Green Hydrogen – Global Completed Assets & Pipeline Database.

Figure 1: A pipeline approaching 1 terawatt has been accumulated for green hydrogen production globally, with close to 20GW under construction today.
Figure 1 shows the global status of development of green hydrogen projects. Early-Stage Projects are typically projects going through feasibility studies (or even pre-feasibility). These projects may be operational in 5-10 years, if they progress to completion.
Late-Stage Planning includes projects moving towards “Ready-to-Build” status and includes all projects up until they start construction; depending on size, these projects could be operational in the next 3-5 years.
The graphic below highlights the huge potential for growth with Under Construction sites the ones to focus on in the short term.

Figure 2: China has the largest green hydrogen pipeline globally, followed by Europe, the Rest of the World category above, the U.S., and then India.
Figure 2 shows the project pipeline sorted by region and likelihood-of-build status. The likelihood-of-build category (tagged in the database report as Prospect of Build Out) is defined as 50% for a project in the late stages of planning, 75% for a project Under Construction and 100% when Operational. Note that early-stage projects are removed from this graphic to allow for more visibility in the short term.
Unsurprisingly, China has the largest pipeline by capacity and projects, with almost 40GW at the late stage of build out, followed by the Rest of the World (RoW) grouping, which mainly includes projects in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Australia.
A large part of the Under Construction segment comes from the 2.2GW Neom Green Hydrogen Project being developed by a consortium including NEOM, Acwa Power and Air Products.
Europe has the second highest capacity that is operational, and a strong pipeline that includes the various Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) sites that have received funding.
The U.S. trails some way behind, but the country’s pipeline will likely start to develop more when the precise rules of the 45V tax credit get released. Construction is expected to gain traction in the next few years as regional hydrogen hubs receive funding. Still, the largest operational plant outside China is in the U.S.: Plug Power’s Woodbine project, which is also the largest operational project using Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology in the world.
India has a smaller late-stage pipeline than many of the other regions, but the market is vibrant now. There are a few large projects under construction in Gopalpur. Additionally, Final Investment Decision (FID) was just passed for two phases of 640MW by AM Green (a subsidiary of Greenko) for its Andhra Pradesh site, where the ammonia produced is intended to be exported to Europe. The alkaline electrolysers for this site are to be provided by John Cockerill.

Figure 3: A large part of the Under Construction projects are in the 100-1000 MW size range.
Looking in greater detail at the Under Construction sites, Figure 3 shows them segmented by region and size of project. Most of the capacity comes from projects in the 100MW-1000MW range, apart from the RoW regions owing to large projects such as the aforementioned Neom Green Hydrogen site.
Looking at Europe, the average size of the projects is much smaller, with a large number of 1-10MW and 10-50MW developments. Some European developers are looking at powering their electrolysers using offshore wind, or even building projects on offshore platforms.
The U.S. has relatively few large projects; most of the capacity is from 100MW-1000MW projects. However, bottlenecks often persist near the end of planning phases, citing mostly financial concern (although this is also a global issue) and an uncertain regulatory environment.

Figure 4: The evolution of Operational Capacity has been towards more projects in the 10-50MW segment.
Figure 4 shows the installed capacity by year (left y-axis) and the cumulative total (secondary y-axis).
The first thing that stands out is the large year-on-year growth of the industry, with the cumulative capacity close to 2GW in 2024. Before 2020, almost every project was in the 1MW-10MW range. In 2021, there was one large site completed in the 100MW-1000MW range. Thereafter, there are many sites in the 1MW-10MW range and a few 10MW-50MW projects.
The 10MW-50MW segment is notable, as this is expected to drive the operational capacity of the industry in the near future.
All the 100MW-1000MW projects are currently in China, although this could change from next year with projects like New Fortress Energy’s Zero Park I in Texas scheduled to be operational.
The Green Hydrogen – Global Completed Assets & Pipeline Database, released quarterly by the PV Tech Research team, contains full audit-trails of global green hydrogen projects above 1MW in size, including planning/build status and the key stakeholders behind each of the projects.
A webinar hosted by Joe Hennessy, market analyst for PV-Tech & Solar Media, will explore the database, to allow a full understanding of how quickly this new sector is growing today and where to expect the most activity in coming years. Sign up to attend here.
To learn more about the Green Hydrogen – Global Completed Assets & Pipeline Database, please book a demo with our team here.