Hydrogen energy industry 'on a hair-trigger'

The vast scope of imagination has made hydrogen energy the fastest growing industry in the world for investment. From the perspective of development, the direction of the hydrogen energy industry has been clear, the core key technologies have been basically broken through, the price of green electricity in some regions has made green hydrogen initially economic, and the industrial chain framework has taken shape.

On June 18, a red-blue building resembling a gas station stood out under the blue sky and white clouds beside Huazhong Avenue in Changchang Economic Development district of Chongqing.

"This is the first hydrogen station in the city, which can meet the hydrogen demand of 20 hydrogen filling stations in the Chengdu-Chongqing Hydrogen Corridor." Sinopec Chongqing Chuanwei Chemical company expert Zhou Changgui told reporters that China Petrochemical Group is trying to build "China's first hydrogen energy company", planning to build 1,000 similar hydrogen stations by 2025.

According to the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance estimates that by 2025, China's hydrogen energy industry output value will reach 1 trillion yuan. In 2050, hydrogen energy will account for more than 10% of China's terminal energy system, and the annual output value of the industrial chain will reach 12 trillion yuan. Tianyan data show that there are more than 3,060 hydrogen energy-related enterprises in the country. Among them, more than 580 newly registered enterprises in 2022, a growth rate of 24.8%, and more than 130 new enterprises were added from January to May this year.

Usher in a period of strategic opportunities for rapid development

Since 2006, more than 80 hydrogen energy-related policies have been issued at the national level. At present, 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) have included hydrogen energy in the "14th Five-Year Plan" development plan, and more than 10 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) such as Beijing, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin and Henan have issued special plans related to hydrogen energy.

The White Paper on China's Hydrogen energy and Fuel Cell Industry predicts that the average annual demand for hydrogen in 2030 will be about 35 million tons, and hydrogen will achieve long-distance large-scale transportation. By 2050, the demand for hydrogen will be close to 60 million tons, the number of hydrogen refueling stations in the country will reach more than 10,000, and hydrogen energy will be widely used in transportation, industry and other fields.

Hydrogen energy is known as the "ultimate energy of the 21st century", according to the "hydrogen energy Future Development Trend research report" released by the International Hydrogen Energy Commission, the global demand for hydrogen energy will increase to 10 times the current level in 2050, and the global hydrogen energy industry chain will exceed 2.5 trillion US dollars.

It is understood that under the background of the construction of the Shuangcheng economic circle in the Chengdu-Chongqing area, the two cities in Sichuan and Chongqing join hands to promote the construction of hydrogen energy highways between key cities, and promote the formation of the whole industrial chain "hydrogen corridor" of hydrogen energy "production, storage, transportation, processing and use" in Sichuan and Chongqing.

The relevant person in charge of Chongqing Development and Reform Commission said that it is expected that by the end of the year, the hydrogen automobile industry cluster of the city from hydrogen production, hydrogenation, key core components to vehicle manufacturing will be on the scale. By then, Chongqing will build 10 hydrogen refueling stations, promote 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for demonstration operation, cultivate more than 50 hydrogen vehicle industry chain enterprises, and achieve an annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan.

"This shows us a huge opportunity to develop hydrogen." Zhou Changgui said that Chuanwei Chemical has developed a hydrogen energy development plan, that is, the use of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology, the physical purification of crude hydrogen, purified hydrogen can reach 99.999%, higher than the 99.97% hydrogen fuel cell vehicle hydrogen national standard. The purified high-purity hydrogen can be used both as hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cells and as high-purity hydrogen for industrial production to realize the efficient utilization of industrial "tail gas".

Car companies seize the "new track" of hydrogen energy

According to the Medium and Long-Term Plan for the Development of hydrogen energy Industry (2021-2035), the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China will reach about 50,000 in 2025. Based on the characteristics of clean and efficient, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have become an important starting point for many countries around the world to create a "hydrogen society", and it is also one of the important solutions for the high-quality development of the automotive industry, and many companies have accelerated the layout of this track.

"At present, the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China has exceeded 10,000, and the overall application has shown a rapid expansion trend." 

Saic Hongyan, located in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, is the first commercial vehicle enterprise in China to devote to the research and development of hydrogen fuel cell technology, and its hydrogen energy heavy truck has been listed as a recommended model by a number of hydrogen energy demonstration cities, and will gradually land more than 10,000 vehicles in the next four years.

At the end of last year, Changan Automobile officially established "Changan Technology Company" and released the Changan hydrogen fuel cell system, officially entering the field of hydrogen energy. In the next five years, Changan Automobile will also launch two to three hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars.

The reporter learned from Changan Automobile that Changan hydrogen fuel cell system uses the first domestic water-gas different side reactor design to reduce the length of the pipeline harness by 20%. Self-developed full variable decoupling high-precision control technology, improve the hydrogen conversion efficiency of 62%, 100 km feed hydrogen consumption of 0.65kg, 3 minutes of ultrafine replenishment.

"On the whole, with the support of the 'dual carbon' goal and various new energy policies, and with the help of capital, coordinated industrial development, technological progress and infrastructure construction, China is likely to become the first country in the world to achieve the industrialization and commercialization of fuel cell vehicles." Said Zhang Guoqiang, chairman of Beijing Yihuatong Technology Co., LTD.

Jiulongpo District is the nine districts and counties identified by Chongqing to speed up the development of hydrogen fuel cell demonstration applications. In March this year, the construction of the city's first hydrogen refueling station was launched, and the city took the lead in promoting the research and development, production and application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Qingling Automobile located in Jiulongpo District has now obtained the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle production qualification.

The relevant person in charge of Qingling Automobile told reporters that the company is working with Bosch China to orderly promote the development, demonstration operation and commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle products. In May this year, four companies, Minsheng Logistics, Longtong Technology, Qingling Automobile and Bosch Hydrogen Power, reached a cooperation agreement, Minsheng Logistics and Longtong Technology will purchase no less than 300 Qingling hydrogen fuel cell trucks equipped with Bosch hydrogen power system, and build a business model innovation platform.

"Now we have to conquer heavy trucks and long-distance buses, then expand to all kinds of heavy transport, then trains, ships, planes. This is the way to develop hydrogen energy." Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at Tsinghua University, said.

The "Energy Saving and New energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2.0" prepared by the China Society of Automotive Engineering predicts that the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will reach about 1 million by 2035, and the future development space is huge.

It is urgent to accelerate the layout of the whole industrial chain

At present, the capacity of hydrogen fuel cells is fast, but due to the insufficient density of hydrogen stations, and the lack of medium and long distance hydrogen storage and transportation technology, it is difficult to effectively docking hydrogen sources and applications, and in many areas, there has been an embarrassing situation of "expensive cars, expensive hydrogen, fewer stations, and general endurance", or even "there are no stations, and there are no gas stations".

Hydrogen refueling stations are a key element affecting the customer experience, but the number of hydrogen refueling stations nationwide is not large, the core reason is that downstream demand is unclear. If there is not enough demand to keep up, it is difficult to reduce costs, resulting in losses, so some enterprises are unwilling to invest.

"At present, the hydrogen energy industry has some problems, such as a small proportion of the new energy system, weak industrial innovation ability, the level of technical equipment to be improved, and the industrial development form and application scenarios are not rich." Mo Yuanming, a researcher at the Center for Coordinated Development of the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle in Chongqing Technology and Business University, said that it is still necessary to guide local governments and enterprises to target and serve the national strategic needs, play the guiding role of the medium and long-term planning for the development of the hydrogen energy industry, optimize the regional layout of the hydrogen energy industry, strengthen scientific and technological innovation in the hydrogen energy industry, enhance the core competitiveness of the hydrogen energy industry, and promote the high-quality development of the economy and society.

Dr. Ren Zeping, founder of Zeping Macro Business School, advocated "new infrastructure and new energy" in 2020, proposed in 2021 that "not investing in new energy at the moment, just like not buying a house 20 years ago", and predicted that "hydrogen energy, energy storage and intelligent driving will be the new trash-class track" in 2022. "The three new tracks of hydrogen energy, energy storage and intelligent driving are like new energy vehicles and lithium batteries three or five years ago, on the eve of the outbreak." 'he said.