"72% of the oil China consumes comes mainly from countries such as the Middle East and Russia. As the world's second-largest economy, China's energy demand continues to grow. Strengthening energy security is therefore a major issue facing Beijing. After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict triggered the global energy crisis, China was even more aware of this. In a world where geopolitics are more fragile, China wants to reduce its dependence on energy. Environmentally friendly and clean hydrogen energy is a new priority. ”
Hydrogen energy has become a priority for China.
The German "Business Daily" article "Storage Technology and Hydrogen: China Wants to Protect Its Energy System" on the 7th said that China is massively expanding wind, solar and hydrogen production. The several plans that the Government has just proposed show this.
For example, the five-year plan proposed at the end of March set out the goal of ensuring "national energy security" by building a new energy system. New storage energy solutions and technologies such as green hydrogen, which have fallen sharply in price, play a central role in this. Only then will China be able to meet its growing energy needs while achieving climate protection and a higher degree of self-sufficiency.
Hydrogen energy is used in automobiles.
Aoki understands that China is already the largest producer and consumer of hydrogen. According to a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), hydrogen will account for about 12% of global energy consumption by 2050. Six countries could become the hydrogen world powers of the future.
Hydrogen energy plays an important role in China's economic planning. Since 2019, more than 30 projects have been undertaken for climate-friendly green hydrogen. China plans to build the world's third-largest fleet of fuel cell vehicles. As of last year, there were only 7,300 fuel cell vehicles in China. By 2025, China will produce 50,000 to 100,000 fuel cell vehicles. 2035 should be 1 million. As of June 2021, there are 146 hydrogen refueling stations in China.
Develop green hydrogen energy.
China is also investing heavily in industrial uses of hydrogen. In order to increasingly provide green hydrogen for energy-intensive industries such as the national chemical industry, China is promoting large-scale projects such as solar electrolysis to hydrogen. China's state-owned chemical companies are also investing heavily in expanding the industrial hydrogen value chain, as directed by headquarters.
Also in its first national industry development plan released at the end of March, Beijing set itself a target of producing at least 100,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year from 2025 onwards. To achieve this, a domestic supply chain from electrolyzer manufacturing to energy supply must be established. Here, too, the goal of self-sufficiency is obvious.
China attaches great importance to the research and development of hydrogen energy technology.
Wind and solar power plants will be massively expanded in the Chinese desert to power the rest of the country. LONGi Green Energy, the world's largest solar module manufacturer, expects demand to grow significantly and wants to triple the production of electrolyzers. China is already a market leader in solar, lithium-ion and wind.
China wants to promote the widespread use of storage technologies for hydrogen and other types of energy and push for significant cost reductions. According to China's five-year energy plan, by 2025, the cost of electrochemical energy storage systems should be 30% lower than current levels and create a storage capacity of 30 GW.
The "China Hydrogen Energy Alliance" budget, including all capital investments, will still cost $4 to produce one kilogram of hydrogen energy by 2025. Five years later, it should only cost $2.40. China's technological efforts for energy security will also have an impact on global energy production.
Japan is at the forefront of hydrogen technology in the world.
It is followed by China by the United States, which accounts for about 13% of global hydrogen production and consumption.
Japan has almost no natural resources to produce hydrogen independently, so the country already relies on long-term contracts to get supplies from abroad. Japan invests 670 million euros annually in hydrogen and fuel cell technology. The report by Japanese research institute Atamuse also said that Japan is currently leading the global patent competition for hydrogen industrial applications. Between 2010 and 2019, most of the 170,000 patents filed in this area worldwide came from Japan. China, the United States and South Korea are vying for second place, followed by Germany and other countries.
The United States has a strategy for hydrogen energy.
But China is catching up quickly. "I believe China will catch up in 2025," Chai Maorong, chief technology officer of hydrogen technology at China's State Power Investment Corporation, said in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post.
Like Japan, South Korea has the same ambitious goals and wants to use hydrogen to boost economic growth and create jobs. In South Korea, the focus is on vehicles equipped with fuel cells and their expansion. In 2020, EU countries adopted national hydrogen strategies. The focus is on green hydrogen, with an annual financing potential of €4.56 billion.
Hydrogen is being invested all over the world.
Another big player in the hydrogen space is India. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed during the release of the National Hydrogen Mission in 2021 that India can achieve independence in the energy sector by 2047 through climate-friendly hydrogen energy. In addition, South American and African countries, as well as Chile, can also play an important role in the export of green hydrogen energy.
"In the competition of solar and wind energy, China is already in a leading position." The German "Machinery Market" magazine predicts that the competition for hydrogen energy is obviously more intense. One thing is for sure, China is emerging as a global leader in the hydrogen economy.