GENA Solutions: Total renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline rises from 48.8 to 49.4 Mt by 2030

Methanol

Published Thu, 3rd July 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.

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

The renewable methanol project pipeline increased by 0.6 Mt, from 38.7 Mt in May 2025 to 3 Mt in June 2025. The total renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline reached 49.4 Mt. Six projects were added in June, while six projects were excluded. Four new projects are based in China and two in Europe. In addition, one project shifted from producing e-methanol to biomethanol.
As of June 2025, GENA tracks 131 e-methanol plants and projects with a total capacity of 5 Mt, 95 biomethanol plants and projects with a total capacity of 17.8 Mt, and 16 low-carbon methanol plants and projects with a total capacity of 10.1 Mt.
One more biomethanol project in China commenced construction in June. As of June, we track eighteen renewable methanol projects under construction in China. At least four of them are expected to start operations in 2025.
China continued to increase its share in global projected capacity. It now accounts for 51% of the renewable methanol project pipeline, including 68% of biomethanol and 38% of e-methanol Europe ranks second with 28% of the renewable methanol project pipeline, including 35% of e-methanol and 20% of biomethanol projects.
Renewable methanol capacity could reach 4 to 13 Mt by 2030. We estimate that a more likely range is 8 to 13 Mt (20–33% of the project pipeline).
Cost competitiveness will have a major impact on project success rates across regions and shape regional balances. In the Higher Probability Projects scenario, around 60% of renewable methanol capacity would be based in China.