The pipeline of planned 1MW-plus green hydrogen projects is over 60GW, according to research by Rystad Energy.
The analysts said 87% of the projects are gigawatt-scale plants.
Europe and Australia dominate the global pipeline, which includes 11 proposed electrolyser projects with a capacity of 1GW or more.
Four of these are in Australia – the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, Murchinson Renewable Hydrogen Project, Gladstone Hub and the Pacific Solar Hydrogen.
Rystad Energy head of renewables Gero Farruggio said: “Despite the growing pipeline, we forecast less than half of this capacity (30GW) will be operational by 2035, as developers will need to lower production costs.
“Government support will be required to advance projects more quickly, particularly for those developments that will be powered by costlier offshore wind.”
Rystad said that Europe is in the lead in terms of operational, utility-scale projects above 1MW, with the majority of operating projects located in Germany.
In terms of projects under-construction, China’s 5GW Beijing Jingneng facility in Inner Mongolia will likely be the first gigawatt-scale electrolyser to become fully operational, with construction already underway.
The facility will consist of both a solar farm and onshore wind farm, the energy from which will feed the production of 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.
The majority of global hydrogen electrolyser projects will be powered by solar and onshore wind, with only five planned large-scale projects to be powered by offshore wind farms.
Rystad Energy estimated the Capex required of offshore wind is over twice that of its onshore counterpart, and four times that of solar, making it less attractive for green hydrogen locations that have reasonable onshore resources.
However, it added that Europe will have little choice but to explore offshore wind to power large-scale hydrogen developments.
“And like the broader offshore wind sector, hydrogen electrolyser projects will likely remain reliant on government support for the remainder of the decade in order to be economically viable,” the analysts said.