Hydrogen Searches for Demand, Materials Search for a Market – This Week in Green Technology

01 · Hydrogen

Green Hydrogen in Poland: Investment Is There, Demand Still Isn't [1]

Orlen isn't slowing down – the company already operates two facilities producing automotive-grade hydrogen and is building a 5 MW electrolyzer hub in Szczecin. The goal is ambitious: 90,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year by 2035. Tauron is also entering the game, developing its own hydrogen projects in Jaworzno and Stalowa Wola, building a second pillar of the country's hydrogen infrastructure alongside Orlen.

The problem is that infrastructure alone isn't enough. Grupa Azoty and other market players remain visibly cautious, for several reasons: the high cost of producing green hydrogen compared with conventional fuels, still-weak demand from heavy industry and transport, and an uncertain regulatory environment that makes long-term investment planning difficult. Paradoxically, Poland is already the third-largest hydrogen producer in the entire European Union – except that this output is dominated by grey hydrogen, made from fossil fuels, rather than its green counterpart.

This shows that hydrogen as a technology is no longer the main barrier – the real barrier today is economics and an actual market for the product. For companies in the green technology and renewable energy sector, this is a clear signal that it's worth investing not just in production capacity, but in building the entire demand chain: road and rail transport, energy-intensive industry, and energy storage.