The clean hydrogen sector is experiencing rapid expansion, though a wide gap still separates announced projects from those that are truly bankable. Globally, more than 1,000 large-scale projects have been proposed, worth a combined $320 billion, yet only about 10% of that capital — some $29 billion — has reached Final Investment Decision (FID). Europe leads proposed investment with roughly 35% of the total, ahead of Asia and North America.
Hydrogen mobility is also accelerating: sales of fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) grew 370% in a single year, from around 17,000 units in 2021 to 80,000 in 2022, with more than 130 new FCEV models expected in 2023, mostly commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses. The refuelling network is expanding just as fast: hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) worldwide rose from 215 in 2012 to over 1,070 by the end of 2022, growing roughly 50% year-on-year compared with 2021.
On costs, the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) from renewable sources is set to fall sharply over the coming decades: according to the IEA (Global Hydrogen Review 2021), green hydrogen from electrolysis could approach cost parity with fossil-based hydrogen well before 2050, while today the lowest-cost route remains natural-gas-based hydrogen paired with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).
Hydrogen is identified as a key vector for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors — heavy industry, shipping and aviation — as well as for energy security and industrial competitiveness: precisely the themes at the centre of the research carried out in the Energy Transition Hub Torino's hydrogen laboratories.
Sources: IEA, Global Hydrogen Review 2021; Hydrogen Council; H2stations.org