Present and future cost of alkaline and PEM electrolyser stacks

Abstract

We use complementary bottom-up and top-down approaches to assess the current cost of AE and PEM stacks and how the costs are expected to come down by 2030. The total AE and PEM stack cost reduce from a range of 242–388 €/kW and 384–1071 €/kW in 2020 to 52–79 €/kW and 63–234 €/kW in 2030 respectively. The main drivers of these cost reductions are an increased current density and a reduction and/or replacement of expensive materials with cheaper alternatives. To a lesser extent, manufacturing and labor costs reduction is expected due to mass manufacturing at a GW scale. The total cost decrease is less prominent for AE than PEM due to AE's maturity. The uncertainty range for PEM stacks is due to the low TRL associated with the advanced design PEM stack.