Policy benefits continue to be unveiled as the hydrogen energy industry enters a golden era.
Release date:
2021-01-04
Recently, the State Council Information Office released the white paper "China's Energy Development in the New Era," which calls for accelerating the development of hydrogen energy industry chain technologies and equipment—including green hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and application—while also promoting advancements in hydrogen fuel cell technology and the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry. The document further supports energy storage applications across all stages and scenarios, emphasizing the importance of advancing integrated development between energy storage systems and renewable energy sources.
In recent years, thanks to the significant drop in hydrogen production costs and the rapid advancements in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the hydrogen energy industry is entering a "golden era." Experts emphasize that developing hydrogen energy is a crucial direction for the energy revolution, as it paves the way toward building a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy system. Looking ahead, hydrogen will be widely applied across various sectors, including transportation, industry, and building heating.
Li Lianrong, Chairman of China National Energy Investment Group Hydrogen Energy Technology Development Co., Ltd., believes that China's ongoing energy structure adjustment and growing energy security concerns are driving a stronger demand for hydrogen energy—making it a key solution to the nation's energy challenges. Moreover, both hydrogen energy technologies and the industry have already accumulated significant progress, laying a solid foundation for accelerated development.
Liu Mingsheng, Deputy General Manager of State Power Investment Corporation Limited, stated that due to the volatility and uneven distribution of renewable energy sources, the ability to integrate and utilize these resources remains limited—making hydrogen energy widely regarded as "the key solution" to this challenge.
According to Li Can, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, water electrolysis for hydrogen production is the most effective pathway—both in the near and medium term—to achieve the industrial-scale conversion of renewable energy into chemical energy. This technology can be applied to various renewable energy sources, including photovoltaic, wind, and hydropower generation.
Policy benefits for hydrogen energy development are now being unleashed. Across the country—excluding the Tibet Autonomous Region—all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have already introduced hydrogen-related policies or initiated industry plans, with infrastructure networks already taking shape in some regions. By the end of 2019, China had already built more than 60 hydrogen refueling stations. By 2030, the total number of hydrogen stations in China is expected to surpass 1,000, while the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in operation will exceed 1 million.
Although the prospects for hydrogen energy are widely optimistic, it will still take time for the industry to achieve a breakthrough. Peng Suping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, noted that several key areas of China's hydrogen energy industry still face "bottleneck" challenges, making it urgently necessary to develop independent, cutting-edge technologies.
Currently, the national-level top-level blueprint for hydrogen energy has not yet been officially released, and the industry's overall direction and pace have not yet been fully aligned. Industry standards remain unestablished, leaving the sector still in a state of disarray. At the same time, technological accumulation is insufficient, and the industrial chain has not yet fully taken shape. Li Lianrong believes that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's hydrogen energy industry should prioritize establishing an independent R&D system and cultivating domestic brands, using indigenous technologies as the foundation to drive industry growth. Additionally, it’s crucial to streamline the entire autonomous industrial chain, enabling the sector to move toward orderly development, ultimately achieving a comprehensive and highly efficient hydrogen energy ecosystem—and accelerating the rapid scaling up of China's hydrogen economy.
For the future development tasks of the hydrogen energy industry, Wang Liping, Deputy Director of the Ningbo Municipal Energy Bureau in Zhejiang Province, suggests that, first, we should clearly define hydrogen's role within China's energy system; second, a leading and coordinating mechanism for the hydrogen energy industry should be established to clarify the division of responsibilities among relevant departments. Additionally, a comprehensive list of the entire hydrogen energy industry chain should be compiled, with autonomous core technologies and breakthroughs in industrialization promptly announced as they are achieved.
Wei Suo, Chairman of the Hydrogen Energy Industry Branch of the China Association for Promoting Industrial Development, stated that currently, to address issues such as fragmented efforts, insufficient R&D capabilities, imbalanced development across various links in the industrial chain, and redundant, inefficient investments in China's hydrogen energy sector, effective policy guidance is needed, along with robust collaboration among industry, academia, research institutions, and end-users. This includes fostering technological breakthroughs, innovation, and demonstration projects, promoting widespread application and adoption, ensuring coordinated growth across all segments of the value chain, and leveraging a sizable market to drive demand. (Economic Daily reporter Wang Yichen)
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