Chinese state-owned energy majors have launched a new consortium aimed at boosting the People’s Republic’s green hydrogen capabilities.
Led by Sinopec and the State Energy Group, over 80 organisations now form the Central Enterprise Green Hydrogen Energy Production, Storage and Transportation Innovation Consortium, which held its launch meeting in Beijing on Wednesday (August 21).
Set to be “guided” by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the consortium’s focus will be on exploring key technology and promoting large-scale green hydrogen applications.
Other members include China Energy Investment Corp., State Grid Corp., PetroChina, Cnooc, and China State Shipbuilding Corp.
Li Yonglin, Deputy General Manager of Sinopec, stated that the consortium will pool resources for coordinated and systematic research, working collectively to build national strategic scientific and technological capabilities that will support the high-quality development of China’s hydrogen energy industry.
The new alliance plans to take on challenges including storage and transportation from the renewable energy centres in China’s west to its industrial east.
Ma Yongsheng, Chairman of Sinopec, said the oil and gas enterprise would ensure the consortium accelerates the development of China’s hydrogen industry.
It comes as Western powers raise concerns that China could dominate the hydrogen industry, with fears that lower-cost hydrogen technologies could outbid OEMs on domestic projects.
According to the IEA, the largest concentration of hydrogen projects – planned to operational – are in China. The IEA estimates that in 2022 China’s installed capacity for dedicated green hydrogen production was more than 200MW (or 30% of global capacity), which includes the world’s largest green hydrogen project (150MW), built by Baofeng Energy.
China’s overall capacity is expected to reach 1.2GW with the start-up of Sinopec’s solar-powered green hydrogen project in northwest China totalling 260MW of electrolyser capacity.
Read more: The what, where and when of hydrogen in Asia
China to dominate hydrogen expansion; Europe, North America to trail: Bosch
Dr. Stefan Hartung © Bosch
Bosch doesn’t expect to see major hydrogen growth in Europe or North America until the 2030s, according to the company’s Chairman.
Speaking at Bosch’s annual press conference, Dr. Stefan Hartung, Chairman of the board of management, said while it remains possible for the German manufacturer to stick to its sales target of €5bn ($5.3bn) for hydrogen technology by 2030, China is likely to dominate demand.
Last year (2023), Bosch kick-started the mass production of PEM fuel cells for heavy-duty mobility applications, with production sites in Stuttgart, Germany, and Chongquing, China…
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