GENA Solutions: Total renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline rises from 47.2 to 48.8 Mt by 2030

Methanol

Published Wed, 28th May 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 47.2 to 48.8 Mt by 2030

The Methanol Institute recently shared with Manifold Times the renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline May 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 highlights from the May 2025 release are as follows:

Renewable methanol advanced substantially in May. The first industrial-scale e-methanol plant began commercial operations in Denmark. Another facility started biomethanol production in China. A large-scale biomethanol project in the United States and an e-methanol project in Finland commenced FEED. The total after-FID renewable methanol capacity has reached 3.6 Mt, while another 5 Mt of projects are now in engineering.
The renewable methanol project pipeline increased by 1.6 Mt from 37.1 Mt in April 2025 to 38.7 Mt in May 2025. The total renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline reached 48.8 Mt. Nine projects were added in the May release, while three projects were excluded. Four new projects are based in China, three in Europe, and two in Brazil.
As of May 2025, GENA tracks 133 e-methanol plants and projects with a total capacity of 21.2 Mt, 93 biomethanol plants and projects with a total capacity of 17.5 Mt, and 16 low-carbon methanol plants and projects with a total capacity of 10.1 Mt.
China and Europe continue to dominate renewable methanol development, with 19.2 Mt (50%) and 11.4 Mt (29%) of the project pipeline, respectively. North America accounts for 3.7 Mt (10%).
The project pipeline in Latin America is also rising and, as of May 2025, has reached 2.1 Mt, with projects based in Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. Considering the region’s vast renewable energy and biomass resources, Latin America is likely to become the third-largest exporter of renewable methanol to the global market by 2030, following China and North America.
As a result of recent progress, renewable methanol capacity in the Advanced Projects scenario has increased to 8.6 Mt in 2030, while the Higher Probability Projects scenario shows an increase to 14.2 Mt in 2030. Most likely, renewable methanol capacity will fall within the 8–14 Mt range by 2030.