The Zhitong Finance App learned that CICC released a research report saying that in 2023, China's electrolyzer tender volume was about 1,812 MW, an increase of 127% over the previous year. Looking back, various regions are actively planning hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. In 23, a large number of green hydrogen projects were declared and set up. Domestic green hydrogen production capacity exceeded 4 million tons, and the production capacity of the projects landed at the end of the year was only 50,000 tons. As construction of green hydrogen projects gradually commences, the demand for electrolyzers will increase dramatically. The bank expects demand for electrolyzers to double in 2024. Alkaline electrolyzers are currently the mainstream in the market. Focus on the growth of PEM electrolyzers.

Recommended attention: hydrogen production links Huaguang Huan Energy (600475.SH), Huadian Heavy Industries (601226.SH), and petrochemical machinery (000852.SZ); fuel cells and testing links Yihuatong (02402) and Cowell (688551.SH).

CICC's views are as follows:

Demand for electrolyzer tenders grew rapidly in '23, and is expected to double in '24.

According to the bank's statistics, in 2023, China's electrolyzer tender volume was about 1,812 MW, an increase of 127% over the previous year. Looking back, various regions are actively planning hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. In 23, a large number of green hydrogen projects were declared and set up. Domestic green hydrogen production capacity exceeded 4 million tons, and the production capacity of the projects landed at the end of the year was only 50,000 tons. As construction of green hydrogen projects gradually commences, the demand for electrolyzers will increase dramatically. The bank expects demand for electrolyzers to double in 2024.

Alkaline electrolyzers are currently the mainstream in the market. Focus on the growth of PEM electrolyzers.

Judging from the demand for tenders, alkaline electrolyzers are still mainstream in the market. PEM electrolyzers are more expensive, but they have fast response times, short start-up times, and better wind and light coupling. As the number of projects directly coupled to wind and solar off-grid increases in the future, the bank expects the penetration rate of PEM electrolyzers to increase further.

From 2000Nm? /H towards 3000nm? /h, there is a clear trend in the majority of electrolyzers.

1000Nm in '22? After high-power products of /h and above became the standard for new products, more than 23 years ago, many companies began to move to 2000Nm? /h electrolyzer layout. The hydrogen production volume of the new alkaline electrolyzer products of Longji Hydrogen Energy and Sany Hydrogen Energy surpassed 3000 Nm in a single tank? /h. At present, domestic alkaline electrolyzers have passed the initial development stage of increasing hydrogen production in a single tank with pile volume as the core, and are gradually developing in the direction of large-scale expansion through improvements such as increasing current density, increasing the reaction area of small chambers, and increasing the number of small chambers.

Risk warning: The implementation of the green hydrogen project fell short of expectations, the volume of fuel cell vehicles fell short of expectations, and competition in the industry intensified.