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Hydrogen Market Databook 2025: Western Europe, part 2

The first part of our 2025 Hydrogen Market Databook chapter on Western Europe focused on France, Germany ad the EU in general. This instalment looks at Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, the UK and the Nordic countries.

Italy

Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development published its National Hydrogen Strategy-Preliminary Guidelines in 2020. The plan calls for hydrogen to comprise 2% of the country’s energy demand by 2030, increasing to 20% by 2050. The plan also aims for the construction of 5GW of electrolyser capacity—approximately 700,000t/yr of green hydrogen—by the end of the decade. Green hydrogen will be used primarily in four application areas: heavy-haul vehicles, railways, industry and blending in the gas grid.

To promote the production of green hydrogen, the Italian government will provide funding for various projects. These include hydrogen valleys (such as Agnes, H2Iseo, HyPER, LIFE3H, North Adriatic, Puglia, South-Tyrol, TH2ICINO) that will aid the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industries and provide green hydrogen to dozens of proposed fuelling stations and the domestic railway network. Several hydrogen initiatives in Italy have also received funding via the EU’s Important Projects of Common European Interest. These include projects to promote hydrogen technology advancements, hydrogen infrastructure builds and storage, among others.

Netherlands

The Netherlands plans to install up to 21GW of offshore wind power and 3–4GW of electrolyser capacity by 2030 (the country is working on plans for a gigawatt electrolyser within this timeframe). Hydrogen will be the basis for decarbonising various sectors of the Dutch economy.

5GW – UK target for low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030

To jumpstart hydrogen initiatives, the Dutch government plans to award nearly €1b ($1.04b) in funding to increase domestic electrolyser capacity to 200MW. This scheme will help the nation get close to reaching its goal of 500MW of electrolyser capacity by 2026. At the time of publication, the bidding process was ongoing, with applications being accepted until the end of 2024.

Other areas for decarbonisation include industrial applications, the mobility sector (e.g., hydrogen fuelling stations) and residential housing. For example, the Dutch government is aiming to have at least 2m homes switch to natural gas alternatives by 2030, with hydrogen being a likely. To distribute additional hydrogen, the country has more than a dozen pipeline projects piloting the replacement of natural gas with hydrogen, along with new dedicated hydrogen pipelines (part of the European Hydrogen Backbone). The Netherlands is planning more than 1,200km of hydrogen pipelines that will provide green hydrogen to five Dutch industrial clusters. Many recipients will be industrial plants such as refineries and chemical/petrochemical complexes.

Another pathway to facilitate the domestic use of green hydrogen is through hydrogen hubs such as Hydrogen Delta, Hydrogen Hub Noord-Holland, and the Hydrogen Energy Applications in Valley Environments for Northern Netherlands (HEAVENN) initiative, which involves four clusters: Chemical Park Delfzijl, Storage and Built Environment, Emmen Industry and Green Mobility.

One of the leading areas is the Port of Rotterdam. Here, several companies are investing in green hydrogen production capacity, hydrogen pipeline infrastructure, green ammonia cracking/import facilities for green hydrogen imports, hydrogen storage, hydrogen-powered marine vessels, and other projects, as well as blue hydrogen production routes (e.g., US industrial gases firm Air Products’ blue hydrogen to supply ExxonMobil’s Rotterdam refinery).

Numerous other projects are under development. These include several green hydrogen production facilities such as the Eemshydrogen project, HYGRO’s Duwaal project, NortH2, the PosHYdon project, the ELYgator project, the FUREC project, HyCC’s H2eron and H2ermes projects, H2opZee, HyNetherlands, Hydrogen Delta and many others.

Portugal

Portugal aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% from 2005 levels by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2045. The country approved its national hydrogen strategy in 2020, listing several goals the nation is striving to reach by 2030:

  • 10–15% of the country’s natural gas network to be comprised of green hydrogen
  • 2–5% of green hydrogen consumption across various industries
  • 1–5% of road vehicles to be powered by green hydrogen
  • 3–5% of domestic maritime industry using green hydrogen derivatives
  • 50–100 hydrogen fuelling stations to be installed
  • 3GW domestic electrolyser capacity to be reached

The additional use of green hydrogen will require a massive increase in renewable energy capacity. The Portuguese government is aiming to double the existing domestic renewable production capacity to nearly 43GW by 2030.

44–84 TWh – Sweden’s targeted green hydrogen production by 2045

Portugal plans to invest upwards of €7b in renewable hydrogen projects targeting various hydrogen value chains: power-to-gas (hydrogen injected into the natural gas network), power-to-mobility (hydrogen vehicles and fuelling stations), power-to-industry (replacing natural gas with hydrogen in various industries such as chemicals and refining), power-to-synfuel (replacing fossil fuels with efuels) and power-to-power (green hydrogen production to be used for electricity).

These initiatives are being spearheaded by several projects, including H2Enable, Madoqua Renewables’ 500MW MP2X and 1GW MadoquaPower2X projects, the GreenH2Atlantic project, the $100m Nazare Green Hydrogen Valley project, the Mangualde Renewable Methanol project, Fusion Fuels’ €650m HEVO-Portugal project, and the €3b Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley (an initiative between Portugal and Spain).

Spain

Spain’s hydrogen roadmap is divided into three phases:

Phase 1 (2020–24): The installation of 300–600MW of electrolyser capacity.

Phase 2 (2025–30): Boost installed domestic electrolyser capacity to 12GW. In July 2024, the Spanish government announced plans to provide €2.3b in subsidies to jumpstart the country’s green energy and hydrogen industries. This initiative was in addition to nearly €750m in subsidies the government awarded (also in July) to large-scale green hydrogen projects totalling more than 650MW. Spain’s government is also providing millions of euros to increase pilot projects, and research and development—e.g., millions of euros are being provided to develop a high-speed rail train to run on renewable hydrogen.

Phase 2 also includes the aim for green hydrogen to comprise 74% of the hydrogen consumed in all industries, as well as increasing the use of hydrogen in the mobility sector with the addition of 150–200 fuel cell buses, 5,000–7,000 light- and heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles, and the startup of 100–150 hydrogen fuelling stations.

Phase 3 (2030–50): The transition to a fully renewable hydrogen economy, making green hydrogen production cost competitive in the marketplace and the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

At the time of publication, the GEI database was tracking nearly 80 hydrogen projects in Spain. At 12%, the country’s active hydrogen market share follows only the UK and Germany in Western Europe.

There are many capital-intensive projects under development in Spain, including the more than €3.2b SHYNE project, the €1.1b Basque Hydrogen Corridor (an initiative with more than 50 projects for green hydrogen production, transport, storage, distribution and mobility, among others), Spanish energy firm CEPSA’s €1b e-methanol facility in Huelva, the nearly €1.5b Green Crane project (enabling green hydrogen to flow from Southern Europe to Northern Europe, boosting hydrogen demand in Italy and Spain), BP’s €2b HyVal green hydrogen cluster (electrolyser capacity installation may be less than announced, thus reducing total project CAPEX), the more than €1b ErasmoPower2X project, the €1.7b Catalina green hydrogen project, the MetGreenPort project, the ALBAMED project and Envision Energy’s $1b integrated green hydrogen net-zero industrial park, among others.

UK

In August 2021, the UK unveiled its national hydrogen strategy, which called for the installation of 5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production by 2030, along with the creation of the Net-Zero Hydrogen Fund and UK Low-Carbon Hydrogen Standard. The produced hydrogen will flow to all areas of the UK’s economy. The goal of the 2021 strategy was to unlock more than £11b ($13.54b) of hydrogen investments in the UK by 2030.

However, the hydrogen plan was revisited by the UK government in 2023. In the latest iteration, the updated strategy doubles the goal of domestic hydrogen capacity to 10GW by 2030 (see Fig.1), as well as the development of four CCUS clusters and a potential pilot hydrogen town within the same timeframe.

To jumpstart the nation’s hydrogen ambitions, the UK government launched a hydrogen funding mechanism called HAR1 in July 2022. HAR1 awarded 11 projects (totalling 125MW of capacity) with revenue support of more than £2b from the Hydrogen Production Business Model, which provides revenue support to hydrogen producers to overcome the operating gap between low-carbon hydrogen and high-carbon fuels. The projects awarded funding in HAR1 included:

  • Barrow Green Hydrogen
  • Bradford Low-Carbon Hydrogen
  • Cromarty Hydrogen
  • Green Hydrogen 3
  • HyBont
  • HyMarnham
  • Langage Green Hydrogen
  • Tees Green Hydrogen
  • Trafford Green Hydrogen
  • West Wales Hydrogen
  • Whitelee Green Hydrogen

Application submissions for HAR2 were launched in late 2023. At the time of publication, HAR2 had received 15 applications totalling more than 240MW of capacity. The winners of HAR2 funding are scheduled to be announced in early 2025.

The UK also awarded nearly £38m to 15 projects as part of Strands 1 and 2 of the Net-Zero Hydrogen Fund. Strand 1 provided funding for FEED and post-FEED costs, while Strand 2 helps hydrogen projects with capital funding for construction costs. Funding recipients of Strands 1 and 2 (Round 1) went to 15 projects: Ballymena Hydrogen, Conrad Energy Hydrogen Lowestoft, Didcot Green Hydrogen Electrolyser, Green Hydrogen St. Helens, Green Hydrogen Winnington & Middlewich, Inverness Green Hydrogen Hub, Mannok Green Hydrogen Valley, MCRU Integrated Hydrogen Delivery for a Fuel Cell Van Fleet Pilot, Lanarkshire Green Hydrogen, the Knockshinnoch Green Hydrogen Hub Project, HyNet Hydrogen Production Plant, Kintore Hydrogen, H2NorthEast, the Port of Felixstowe Green Hydrogen Project and Trecwn Green Energy Hub.

Building on the success of Round 1, the UK government commenced Round 2. The seven recipients of funding were announced in April 2023: the Pembroke 200MW Green Hydrogen Electrolyser Phase 2, Grenian Hydrogen Speke, Sullom Voe Terminal Hydrogen Project, Tees Green Methanol, Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub Phase 1, Tees Valley Hydrogen Vehicle Ecosystem (HYVE, which includes the Teesside hydrogen project) and Suffolk Hydrogen. The UK government plans on promoting HAR3 and HAR4 in the future, aiming to allocate funding for an additional 1.5GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity. There are also plans for three other allocation rounds; however, no additional details/timeframes have been provided.

At the time publication, the UK represented 23% of active hydrogen project market share in Western Europe. These projects—totalling more than 150—are paramount for the nation in reaching its ambitious green hydrogen production, infrastructure and distribution goals, as well as striving towards carbon neutrality by 2050.

Nordic countries

Norway, Sweden and Finland are each investing in new green hydrogen production and infrastructure to decarbonise their respective economies. In June 2023, Hydrogen Cluster Finland released the report Clean Hydrogen Economy Strategy in Finland. This strategy detailed various opportunities in developing a green hydrogen supply/value chain in Finland. According to the report, a green hydrogen economy could provide €16–34b of additional revenue to Finland by 2035, increasing to €41–69b in 2045. The nation’s first area of focus though will need to be on green hydrogen production. With Finland’s abundant renewable energy generation, primarily from wind, the country has the potential to produce 3mt/yr of green hydrogen by 2035, doubling to 6mt/yr by 2045.

To adhere to the goal of boosting domestic green hydrogen production, several notable projects are under development in the country. These include Oulu Energy’s 100MW hydrogen production plant in Oulu; the Helsinki Hydrogen Hub (3H2); Koppo Energia’s 200MW power-to-x project in Kristinestad; Plug Power’s $6b plan to build green hydrogen plants in Kokkola, Kristinestad and Porvoo; an agreement between Gasgrid Finland and Ren-Gas for the construction of four e-methane  production facilities along Gasgrid’s transmission network in Kerava, Kotka, Lahti and Tampere; the BalticSeaH2 project between Finland and Estonia; Blastr Green Steel’s 2.5mt/yr low-carbon steel plant; the 3MW 3H2 project; and Neste’s Sustainable Hydrogen and Recovery of Carbon (SHARC) project, among others.

Norway’s emissions reduction targets are to reduce GHG emissions by 90–95% compared with 1990 levels by 2050. One pathway to help reach this goal is incorporating green hydrogen into various sectors of Norway’s economy. To help kickstart a green hydrogen value chain, Norway instituted the PILOT-E programme in 2016. This is a collaboration between the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Enova, and aims to increase the use of innovative technologies to reduce emissions in the country. In 2019, the programme announced funding for projects that would facilitate the development of a green hydrogen supply chain in Norway: Norwegian firm BKK’s hydrogen production plant at the Mongstad Industrial Park and Flakkgruppen’s Hellesylt Hydrogen Hub project.

2% – Italy’s target for hydrogen’s share of energy demand by 2030

The country has numerous other projects to help decarbonise various domestic industries, including transportation, shipping, power and refining/chemical processing.

Other projects are geared towards developing green hydrogen and derivatives, including Aker Clean Hydrogen and Varanger Kraft’s green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Berlevag, ExxonMobil’s Slagen terminal project to produce 20,000t/yr of green hydrogen and 100,000t/yr of green ammonia, St1 Nordic Oy and Horisont Energi’s green ammonia project in Finnmark, Fortescue’s Homaneset green energy project that will produce 675t/d of green ammonia, the OFFSET consortium’s project to produce green hydrogen and ammonia using a floating production and offloading vessel, H2Carrier’s True North Green Ammonia project that would produce more than 100,000t/yr of green hydrogen and 610,000t/yr of green ammonia, and the Green Arctic HyHub to help mitigate emissions from the country’s shipping sector, among several others.

Sweden plans to be net-zero in GHG emissions by 2045. To adhere to this goal, the country has identified various industries that can be converted into fossil-free sectors of the economy, with green hydrogen playing a major role in decarbonisation. To do so, additional electrolyser capacity will be needed to produce green hydrogen. The Swedish Energy Agency has proposed increasing domestic electrolyser capacity to 5GW by 2030 and up to 15GW by 2045. The agency is targeting domestic green hydrogen production to reach 22–42 TWh by 2030, doubling to 44–84 TWh by 2045.

Produced green hydrogen will then flow into various sectors of Sweden’s economy, including transportation (Lhyfe’s Trelleborg plant, REhydrogen’s filling station builds, Uniper’s NorthStarH2), steelmaking (H2 Green Steel, HYBRIT Green Steel, Greeniron), shipping, refining/chemical processing (SoutH2Port), power/electricity generation (a hydrogen-based industrial cluster in Ange, the Koping Hydrogen Park project, the Neptunus Energy Hub), storage (Vattenfall, SSAB and LKAB’s hydrogen rock cavern storage project) and aviation (H2JET, RISE SICOMP AB’s project, SkyFuelH2, ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric flights from Skelleftea Airport).

Other notable projects/initiatives in Western Europe are detailed Fig.2.

FIG.2: NOTABLE PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES IN WESTERN EUROPE

Country Project Company Scope
Multiple Hydrogen @ Blue Danube Verbund, various partners The goal is to create a trans-European green H2 supply/value chain that would connect the Danube river with the Rhine river and the Black Sea (Interreg Danube Transnational region), integrating various pipeline networks and maritime ports. The project stretches across numerous countries.
Belgium Hyoffwind project Virya Energy, HyoffGreen, Messer Located at the Port Antwerp-Bruges, the project will use wind power for a 25MW green H2 production plant. The facility can be expanded to 100MW in the future, if needed.
Belgium H2BE project Engie, Equinor The project will produce blue H2 from natural gas using ATR with carbon capture.
Belgium HOPE project Lhyfe, various partners The Hydrogen Offshore Production for Europe (HOPE) project will produce green H2 in the North Sea and then transported onshore for the regional market.
Belgium North-C-Methanol project Multiple Part of the proposed North-CCU-Hub project, if built, the facility will use a 65MW electrolyzer to produce green H2 and green methanol. The electrolyzer can be scaled up to 600MW, if needed.
Belgium Wallonia H2 hub Wallonia Government At the time of this publication, the Walloon government was seeking partners to develop the region into a green H2 hub.
Denmark The Government Strategy for Power-to-X Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities The strategy’s goal is to develop 4–6 GW of domestic electrolyzer capacity by 2030. Numerous green H2 projects are under development: Green Fuels for Denmark, CCU-HUB Aalborg, HySynergy, HØST PtX Esbjerg green H2/ammonia plant, Port of Aabenraa green H2 and methanol projects, among others.
Denmark Green methanol plant European Energy European Energy will build another green methanol plant in Denmark--the country’s first plant is in Kasso. The second plant will have a production capacity of 100,000t/yr and is expected to begin operations by 2029.
Greece National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) Government of Greece The NECP calls for renewables to comprise 79% of the country’s power consumption by 2030. Within that timeframe, Greece aims to increase domestic electrolyser capacity to 1.7GW by 2030, increasing to 30.6GW by 2050. This equates to green H2 production of 135,000t/yr in 2030 and up to 2.3mt/yr by 2050.
Greece White Dragon Multiple The €8b project envisions a large-scale H2 hub in Western Macedonia. Once completed, the hub will produce more than 280,000t/yr of green H2 to supply the mobility sector and processing sectors (refining, chemicals, fertilisers). However, the project has not received IPCEI funding, so the project’s 2029 completion date is likely to be delayed.
Greece Green HiPo Advent Technologies The €780m project is being built in Kozani, the lignite (coal) region of Greece. The green H2 produced will help decarbonize the country’s coal-fired power plants by converting them to use cleaner forms of energy. However, the project has been delayed by up to two years due to trouble receiving funds from the EC—Green HiPo was designated an IPCEI.
Greece IRIS Motor Oil Hellas The facility (Innovative low-caRbon hydrogen and methanol production by large-Scale carbon capture) will use natural gas, with carbon capture, to produce eFuels and methanol via a blue H2 pathway. Total production once operational is 56,000t/yr of blue H2. This project is part of Motor Oil’s Blue Med strategic plan to build a H2 value chain in the country. This plan is complemented by the company’s EPHYRA project that will produce 4,500t/yr of green H2 for use at the company’s refinery in Agioi Theodoroi.
Greece Western Macedonia green H2 plant Hellenic Hydrogen (PPC, Motor Oil Hellas JV) The JV is planning to build a 100MW electrolyser in the Macedonia region of Western Greece. Green H2 produced from the €130m facility will be used for power production and fuel for long-haul trucks.
Greece H2 valleys Multiple Two smaller-scale H2 valleys have been announced: One in Crete and the other in Corinth. Each valley is expected to produce 500t/yr of green H2.
Greenland (Denmark) P2XFloater H2Carrier The converted floating LNG (FLNG) vessel will tie into a 1.5GW onshore wind farm to produce green H2 and ammonia. If built, the project will begin operations in late 2028.
Iceland Green methanol plant HS Orka, H2V The €100m, 30MW plant will use geothermal energy to produce green methanol to help decarbonize marine and transportation sectors. HS Orka will also provide hydroelectric and geothermal power to Green Fuel’s (Atome Energy) green ammonia project to decarbonize marine vessels.
Ireland National Hydrogen Strategy Government of Ireland The country’s H2 strategy focuses heavily on the usage of offshore wind power to feed green H2 generation. By 2030, the country is aiming for 2GW of offshore wind power to be operational, which will be used for domestic green H2 production. Although somewhat vague, the strategy provides 21 action items that will act as a roadmap for the development of a green H2 value chain for Ireland.
Ireland Firlough renewables project Mercury Renewables The company is building a €200m integrated wind farm and green H2 plant in northwest Ireland.
Ireland The Kestrel project ESB, dCarbonX, Bord Gais Energy The project’s goal is to redevelop decommissioned gas reservoirs in the offshore Kinsale area gas fields for large-scale energy storage and renewable gas and green H2 storage. ESB is also partnering with the Shannon Airport Group on the Lighthouse project, which will explore the use of green H2 in the aviation sector, as well as building a green H2 production facility at Moneypoint.
Ireland Ballymena green H2 plant Wrightbus, Hygen Energy The green H2 production facility will supply enough zero-carbon H2 to power up to 300 H2 buses per day in Northern Ireland.
North Sea AquaVentus Initiative Numerous The initiative includes several capital-intensive projects in the North Sea, including a 10GW offshore wind farm to produce 1 MMtpy of green H2
Source: Government publications

Lee Nichols is Vice-president, content, at Gulf Energy Information.

Read more from the 2025 Hydrogen Market Databook:

Author: Lee Nichols

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