BloombergNEF said that China is the biggest mover globally, and its industries have committed to projects that could drive global electrolyzer sales past 2 gigawatts in 2022.
Electrolyzer shipments are set to double this year and quadruple in 2022, reaching at least 1.8 GW. China is expected to account for 60 percent to 63 percent of global installations, it said.
However, clean hydrogen demand still lags behind electrolyzer makers' aggressive capacity expansion plans, Wang said.
"To sustain the momentum, more policies stimulating clean hydrogen demand need to emerge, and China's carbon neutrality target is doing the most on this front," she added.
"While few countries have laid out clear plans to drive a broad base of demand, several large projects have been proposed for later in the decade and more may emerge soon in China."
One of the hurdles for extensive application of hydrogen is that producing green hydrogen is expensive and will remain so for decade or more, according to forecasts.
Most hydrogen today is gray hydrogen, made by exposing natural gas to high heat, pressure, and steam in a process that creates carbon dioxide as a byproduct. In the production of blue hydrogen, facilities capture carbon dioxide and sell it or store it, usually deep underground. Meanwhile, green hydrogen is produced by using clean energy from surplus renewable energy sources, like solar or wind power, to split water into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom through a process called electrolysis.
Blue hydrogen is viewed by some as a bridge fuel－a way to build the hydrogen economy while waiting for green hydrogen prices to come down.
Like all other clean energy technologies, green hydrogen needs government support before it can become an affordable feedstock, or serve as a fuel for power and heat, Wang said.
She said hydrogen is likely to play a more important role in cutting emissions in sectors like steel, heavy-duty truck, shipping and cement, with China's cities gearing up for the development of hydrogen fuel cell energy, another green energy solution for vehicles.
