As an important alternative to fossil energy such as gasoline and diesel, clean, efficient and zero emission hydrogen energy has developed rapidly in recent years. The data show that at present, the number of hydrogen energy related enterprises in China has exceeded 2000, and the number of new enterprise registrations is still growing rapidly. Behind the high popularity of the development of hydrogen energy industry, the reporter found that hydrogen shortage has occurred in some areas.
China is short of hydrogen sources in some areas
hydrogen energy industry encounters “growing trouble”
In some areas of Guangdong, due to the shortage of hydrogen source supply, some hydrogen energy logistics vehicles cannot operate normally and are forced to park in the parking lot. At the same time, the operation of some hydrogen energy buses is also under pressure.
Yu Jun, assistant researcher of Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University: taking a region in Guangdong as an example, the downstream demonstration application of hydrogen energy has begun to take shape. The total number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2021 is about 1500, but less than 1 / 3 of them really run The daily hydrogen demand is 16-18 tons, but the daily hydrogen supply is only 5 tons.
Insiders told reporters that the shortage of hydrogen supply began in 2021. Driven by the encouragement and subsidy policies of some places, hydrogen energy logistics and public transport vehicles have increased rapidly, and the number of them has exceeded 7700, but many have not matched the appropriate hydrogen source.
Wang Yang, co-founder and President of energy chain: hydrogen shortage is mainly caused by the dislocation of supply and demand. On the one hand, hydrogen consumption areas do not produce hydrogen; On the other hand, in hydrogen producing areas, hydrogen energy is generally prepared in surrounding areas and consumed nearby.
Gong Ningfeng, the person in charge of a hydrogenation equipment manufacturing enterprise: some areas have a shortage of hydrogen because their economic base is not in the place where industrial by-product hydrogen accumulates, which will make it difficult for industrial by-product hydrogen to quickly cover these areas.
At present, China is the world’s largest hydrogen producer , with a hydrogen output of more than 33 million tons in 2021, of which a large amount comes from industrial by-product hydrogen. There are structural problems in the shortage of hydrogen sources
Jing Chunmei, director of scientific research and Information Department of China International Economic Exchange Center: hydrogen energy shortage is a developing problem and a normal phenomenon in the early stage of industrial development. The whole industrial chain is not complete enough, and there is a mismatch between energy production and consumption. We should keep cold thinking in the heat of hydrogen energy, and the place should be coordinated with the goal of top-level design.
storage and transportation “stuck”
high cost of hydrogen energy
In the context of global carbon neutralization, hydrogen energy is considered to be the most potential clean energy. Although it has broad prospects, the high cost has become a major obstacle to the popularization of hydrogen energy for a long time. Does hydrogen energy have promotion value now? Are you facing other difficulties?
Recently, affected by the rise of international oil prices, the price level of refined oil in China is at a high level. Taking Beijing as an example, the price of gasoline and diesel exceeds 8 yuan per liter, which also brings opportunities for the promotion of hydrogen bus. Li Chao, head of Beijing Petroleum New Energy Office, said, each bus costs about 210 yuan to 240 yuan for 100 kilometers of diesel, hydrogen is about 210 yuan according to the price subsidized by Beijing, which is the same as that of diesel
In Fangshan, Beijing, the first batch of more than 30 hydrogen forklifts were officially put into use, mainly for the production of the industrial park.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) Yanshan Petrochemical chief expert Li Junliang: hydrogen is produced by ourselves. In addition, there is no transportation link, so the whole calculation is relatively appropriate. Heavy trucks, buses and small freight cars may be good application scenarios at present.
Although the application of hydrogen energy has a good market prospect, there are still some obstacles. For example, although the trailer transporting hydrogen can load more than 300 kg, it can only unload 250 kg at the station. Low efficiency and technical problems lead to high costs.
Wang Yang, co-founder and President of energy chain: China’s hydrogen energy supply chain system lags behind, mainly in the storage and transportation link storage and transportation, hydrogenation and other intermediate links have high costs, and the cost per kilogram should be increased by more than 30 yuan
Zhang Xiaoqiang, executive vice president of China Center for international economic exchanges: hydrogen is about 4 liters of No. 92 gasoline per kilogram, transportation cost is almost the same as that of hydrogen production , and the cost of gasoline after superposition is much higher than that of gasoline now by 2025, the cost per kilogram of hydrogen can be reduced to about 25 yuan. The development of green hydrogen production should be accelerated, and the industrial by-product hydrogen should be used more effectively and better
more than 40 renewable energy hydrogen production projects in China
promotion needs policy support
In order to further accelerate the application and promotion of hydrogen energy, recently, the national development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the medium and long term plan for the development of hydrogen energy industry, which is also the top-level design for the development of China’s hydrogen energy industry. Will hydrogen production from renewable energy become the mainstream in the future? How will the hydrogen energy industry policy be implemented?
According to statistics, China has built more than 220 hydrogenation stations in total, a large amount of industrial by-product hydrogen will be used in logistics and transportation links, and new technologies such as liquid hydrogen will be used to reduce costs.
In addition, since the 14th five year plan, relevant localities and enterprises have actively promoted hydrogen production from renewable energy. More than 40 Fengguang hydrogen production projects are under construction and preparation, but there is still a long way to achieve large-scale commercialization and industrialization.
The medium and long term plan for the development of hydrogen energy industry puts forward that hydrogen energy will play an important role in the consumption of renewable energy and large-scale and long-term energy storage. It will also promote the deep decarbonization in transportation, industry and other fields. It is the key development direction of strategic emerging industries and future industries.
Wang Xiang, deputy director of the high technology department of the national development and Reform Commission: break through the key and difficult technical problems of infrastructure in all links of hydrogen energy “production, storage and transmission”, promote the development of applied technologies such as fuel cell and hydrogen metallurgy, support hydrogen production from renewable energy, make good use of industrial by-product hydrogen according to local conditions, and strictly control hydrogen production from new fossil energy.
