Electrolyser Costs
CAPEX composition and OPEX by technology — EUR/kW resolved to stack, BoP and utilities.
Balance-of-plant, not the stack, drives electrolyser CAPEX. Cutting BoP by 20% lowers system cost more than cutting stack price by 40%.
Stack:BoP:Utilities splits differ by technology. Alkaline concentrates cost in BoP; PEM balances BoP with a costlier stack; both are dominated by non-stack items.
Vendor negotiations should target BoP scope and utility integration, not the headline stack price.
OEMs with vertical integration on BoP components enjoy structural margin advantage that plant-gate LCOH benchmarks understate.
| Year | Category | Component | Technology | EUR/kW | EUR/kW/y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | CAPEX | Stack | Alkaline | 290 | — |
| 2025 | CAPEX | BoP | Alkaline | 623 | — |
| 2025 | CAPEX | Other utilities | Alkaline | 125 | — |
| 2025 | OPEX | Stack replacement | Alkaline | — | 27 |
| 2025 | OPEX | Maintenance | Alkaline | — | 41 |
| 2025 | CAPEX | Stack | Proton Exchange Membrane | 329 | — |
| 2025 | CAPEX | BoP | Proton Exchange Membrane | 528 | — |
| 2025 | CAPEX | Other utilities | Proton Exchange Membrane | 114 | — |
Cost components in EUR/kW and EUR/kW/year by technology.
Data © original publishers (EHO, IEA). Original analysis, verification, and column engineering © ReneEnergy. The original publishers have not reviewed or endorsed this dataset.