GENA Solutions: Total renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline rises from 45.8 to 46.3 Mt by 2030

Methanol

Published Thu, 3rd April 2025
by Admin

Information shared by the Methanol Institute meant to assist the maritime industry in the adoption of methanol as a mainstream marine fuel heading into IMO 2030/2050.

GENA Solutions: Total renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline rises from 45.8 to 46.3 Mt by 2030

The Methanol Institute recently shared with Manifold Times the renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline March 2025 release produced by GENA Solutions Oy (Green Energy Analytics).

Information from the release is meant to provide the bunkering publication’s readers with insight on renewable methanol availability, and to assist the maritime industry in the adoption of methanol as a mainstream marine fuel heading into IMO 2030/2050.

Key takeaways of the March 2025 release are as follows:

The renewable methanol project pipeline increased from 35.7 Mt in February 2025 to 36.2 Mt in March 2025 (+0.5 Mt). The total renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline reached 46.3 Mt.
As of March 2025, GENA tracks 127 e-methanol plants and projects with total capacity of 20.1 Mt, 88 biomethanol plants and projects with total capacity of 16.1 Mt, and 16 low-carbon methanol plants and projects with total capacity of 10.1 Mt.
Six projects were added in the March release, including three in Europe and three in China. One project was excluded from the Project Navigator.
The renewable methanol project pipeline in Europe has reached 10.8 Mt (30% of the global total), including 6.8 Mt of e-methanol and 4 Mt of biomethanol. However, only 3% of projects in Europe have reached FID, while another 13% are in the engineering phase. The lack of off-take agreements is one of the major factors preventing projects from reaching FID. About 87% of all long-term binding off-take agreements in renewable methanol have been signed with suppliers from China.
Two projects commenced engineering during the past month. Other project advancements include two technology licensing agreements, a non-binding off-take agreement, the start of an EPC tender, site reservation, an investment grant, an ASU outsourcing contract, and more.
The total after FID renewable methanol capacity, including operational facilities and projects under construction, has reached 3.4 Mt. Additionally, after FID low-carbon methanol capacity stands at 0.5 Mt.
Renewable methanol capacity by 2030 could reach 7.1 Mt in the Advanced Projects scenario, 13.6 Mt in the Higher Probability Projects scenario, and 3.4 Mt in the After-FID Projects scenario.