The release in March 2022 of the Hydrogen Energy Industry Mid- to Long-Term Development Plan (2021~2025) led to the publication of similar low-carbon, energy transition, and hydrogen energy policies at the provincial level in China. A particular focus of recent forums and expos in the country is hydrogen as an energy storage medium for renewables buffering for grid stability.
The defining feature of policies and integrated demonstration projects (IDP) from the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 is green hydrogen generation and hydrogen storage technologies. Hydrogen energy storage systems (H2ESS) technology has the potential to develop synergies between China’s large, established intermittent renewable energy (IRE) and nascent hydrogen energy industries. The country is already both the largest producer of clean energy and largest consumer of hydrogen.
The Energy Valley Hydrogen Opportunities and Development Forum hosted by the PRC Industry Promotion Committee and Beijing Future Science Committee reviewed several recent H2ESS projects in the country and featured, as a sideline, the 2022 Sino-German Discussion Forum. At the forum Dr. Yu Zhuoping, an expert on the China hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry, said that new IRE capacity planned for the next 40 years will ultimately be sufficient to produce over 100 million tons per year (MTPA) of the molecule, up from current production levels of around 30 MTPA.
Dr. Yu also referenced how recent investments in hydrogen technology have gained prominence as a way to fulfill the carbon peak 2030 and carbon neutral 2060 ‘Double Carbon’ goals announced in September 2020. According to Dr. Yu, by 2050, a full 10 years before the PRC is scheduled to achieve carbon neutrality, hydrogen may comprise 10% of the total energy mix, as measured by heating value – only slightly less than the world total, which is forecast to be around 12%.
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