Italy Takes Star Role in Electrolyzer Manufacturing Construction

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Two electrolyzer "gigafactories" help pave the way for Italy to take a star role in current, on-the-ground construction aimed at manufacturing electrolyzers for the green hydrogen industry, while India takes the lead for planned projects.

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The green hydrogen industry is focused on producing, distributing, and using hydrogen gas generated by water electrolysis powered by renewable electricity (such as solar, wind, or hydropower), which emits zero greenhouse gases. The market has been characterized by commercial viability challenges and a slower-than-anticipated ramp-up, but it is moving forward in limited ways - especially in Europe.

Electrolyzer Gigafactories?

When it comes to the manufacture of electrolyzers, Italy is gearing up take a more prominent position in the European sector as more than a quarter of a billion dollars of electrolyzer manufacturing projects are presently under construction in the country, including two self-styled "gigafactories."

What's a gigafactory? There is no real definition of what makes a "gigafactory," which simply suggests production at an extreme scale, but both Industrie De Nora SpA and ErreDue have used the term for the electrolyzer plants they're currently constructing near Milan in northern Italy and at Livorno, a Tuscan port city on Italy's west coast.

One project, De Nora's project near Milan in Lombardy, is actually aiming for substantially more production than the other. De Nora Italy Hydrogen Technologies broke ground on the plant in 2024, and construction is in its final stages. However, the plant will take some time to ramp up to full production capacity, aiming to produce 2 gigawatts equivalent annually of electrolyzers, electrolysis components and hydrogen fuel cell components by 2030. Subscribers can access details of the project, including construction timelines, key contact details, and equipment and service needs, by clicking here.

ErreDue's Tuscan project is eventually aiming for about half the De Nora plant's production capacity, targeting around 1 GW of equipment per year, following completion of an already underway expansion of the initial plant, which is still under construction in Livorno. Full construction is expected to be completed next year.



India takes a strong No. 2 position for current electrolyzer spending and jumps into the lead for planned projects. India's strong current construction investment comes largely from the substantial Phase 2 expansion of an existing plant, which was only completed earlier this year.

Indian Projects

Greenzo Energy's plant in Sanand, Gujarat, now stands at about 250 megawatts (MW) of electrolyzer production capacity, but the company is hoping to lift this to 1 GW annually through two expansion projects, the Phase 2 portion of which is underway, with Phase 3 potentially kicking off next year, putting final completion on track for 2028 and allowing the plant to begin ramping up toward its 1-GW production target.

Planned Construction

Greenzo's Phase 3 project helps boost India into a leading position for future electrolyzer investments, joined by other projects in the country. The similarly named Greenko Group is gearing up with its own plans for a 2-gigawatt-per-year electrolyzer factory in Andhra Pradesh.

Multiple grassroot projects related to electrolyzers are lined up for India, and while these have been rated as having a medium probability (70%-80%) of moving forward as planned, some of them will certainly slip through the cracks. Standing a better chance of moving forward is the planned expansion of an electrolyzer plant in Gujarat that is just wrapping up initial construction.

Waaree Clean Energy Solutions broke ground on its grassroot electrolyzer plant in Valsad, Gujarat, only last year, and is in the process of wrapping up initial construction that will provide 300 MW of annual electrolyzer capacity. A planned Phase 2 expansion, expected to kick off next year, would push this production to 1 GW annually.

North American Headwinds - Plug Pulled

The Italian and Indian projects are being driven by various amounts of government support and funding, spanning different funding bodies in their countries. De Nora's project in Italy, for example, is on the receiving end of Italy's homegrown National Recovery and Resilience Plan as well as European Union funding for the project, which the bloc has classified as an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI).

While it's unclear if Greenzo's project in Sanand, Gujarat, is actually receiving government funds, the project is certainly being supported in terms of policy through India's National Green Hydrogen Mission policy, while Waaree Clean Energy's project has indeed received funds from the country's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's Production-Linked Incentive scheme.

While U.S. green hydrogen production and electrolyzer manufacturing were strongly supported by government policies and funding during the Biden administration, President Donald Trump's second term brought the cancellation of many of these grants of loan guarantees, including some specifically designated for electrolyzer manufacturing. The second Trump administration cancelled billions of dollars' worth of planned hydrogen-related funding, although the exact fate of each specific project awarded as part of a $316 million project earmarked for electrolyzer manufacturing remains unclear.

Sensing a change in the air, U.S.-based electrolyzer maker and green-hydrogen producer Plug Power, chose to step away from multiple awards for both hydrogen production and electrolyzer manufacturing, including a $45.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy earmarked specifically for the mass production of electrolyzer components. Another $5 million had been designated to Plug to research advanced membrane technologies for electrolyzers. ...And that's not to mention the $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee to support a planned green hydrogen plant in New York, the site of which has now been sold to a data center developer.

Plug wasn't the only victim of a massive withdrawal in clean energy support that came in October 2025, when the government terminated support for 223 clean energy projects, amounting to more than $7.5 billion in intended grants and loan guarantees. Among the fallout victims were companies linked to a planned network of hydrogen hubs dotting the U.S. and expected to provide a clean fuel source for power generation and industry.

Industrial Info Resources is presently tracking no green hydrogen production projects under construction in the U.S. and only renovations on the books for already-existing electrolyzer-manufacturing plants.

Key Takeaways

• Europe leads the world for current construction geared to producing electrolyzers used to produce green hydrogen.
• India also features strongly in current electrolyzer construction and is positioned in a leading position for future projects.
• With government support dried up, grassroot electrolyzer and green hydrogen investments in the U.S. are almost nil.

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