This year the hydrogen market is expected to grow by 165% from 2022.

That’s according to research by GlobalData, claiming that production capacity of the gas is projected to hit 4.5 million tonnes each year at the end of 2023.

This represents a continued trend within the last few years, as merger and acquisition deals in hydrogen grew by 288% in 2022 from the previous year, reaching $24.4 billion (£20.2bn) in monetary value.

Denmark, the US, Canada, Egypt and Portugal were some of the big movers in the hydrogen market last year, with more than 112 megatonnes per annum of capacity announced.

In the space of a year, the investments in green hydrogen rose from 600 to 1,700 the study finds – with 93% of active and pipeline hydrogen projects being green as of last month.

Andres Angulo, Energy Analyst at GlobalData, said: “During 2022, over 393 deals related to hydrogen were closed, representing a significant increase compared to 277 deals registered in 2021.

“This shows an upward trend in the hydrogen market development, which could be decisive in achieving over 71 megatonnes per annum capacity worldwide by 2030. This, in addition to the renewable energy development, will create a momentum that will accelerate the cost reduction across the entire hydrogen value chain.”