Following the “scenery”, hydrogen energy is also popular with capital.
The reporter of China business daily noted that driven by the positive hydrogen energy policies, many listed companies, including Shanxi Meijin Energy Co.Ltd(000723) (000723. SZ), Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co.Ltd(002274) (002274. SZ), Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) (000581. SZ), have issued investment or development plans related to hydrogen energy. Moreover, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) is also actively exploring the layout and is determined to become the “first hydrogen energy company”.
Nowadays, carbon neutralization is the general trend, but the application of new energy still presents the trend of “Echelon layout”. Although China’s hydrogen energy capacity has ranked first in the world, in the short term, hydrogen energy does not occupy the main position in new energy.
This does not affect the layout of enterprises on the hydrogen energy track. “From the perspective of revenue, hydrogen energy does not account for a high proportion in the company’s revenue, but the company is optimistic about the development momentum of this sector.” The Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co.Ltd(002274) person said.
race for hydrogen track
In 2021, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) put forward the goal of “the first hydrogen energy company” under the goal of “double carbon”.
The reporter learned that on the road of carbon neutralization transformation of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) , we will take building a world leading clean energy chemical company as the vision goal, accelerate the construction of an “one base, two wings and three new” industrial pattern based on energy resources, with clean oil products and modern chemical industry as the two wings, and new energy, new materials and new economy as the important growth pole. Among them, being the “first hydrogen energy company” will become one of the main attack directions of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) new energy.
Driven by the industrial pattern of “one base, two wings and three innovations”, the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) hydrogen energy industrial pattern is being built rapidly. It is understood that China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) plans to build about 1000 hydrogenation stations by the end of the 14th five year plan. Recently, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) group Capital Co., Ltd. signed a capital increase agreement with Shanghai Shunhua New Energy System Co., Ltd. to announce a strategic stake in Shanghai Shunhua and actively layout the field of hydrogen energy equipment.
In fact, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) has ranked the first echelon of hydrogen energy production in China. It has rich experience in hydrogen production and utilization, and has advantages in key materials and basic chemicals involved in the hydrogen energy industry chain. At the same time, the company has network advantages in developing hydrogen energy business.
The company actively distributing hydrogen energy is not China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) .
The reporter learned that on January 11, 2022, Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) issued the announcement on formulating the strategic planning outline for the development of hydrogen energy business and establishing the hydrogen energy division. The announcement clearly mentioned that by 2025, Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) plans to invest about 3 billion yuan in hydrogen energy business, including about 2.6 billion yuan in hydrogen fuel cell core parts business and about 400 million yuan in PEM electrolytic water hydrogen production system equipment business.
Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) insiders said: “the company mainly relies on the two overseas companies previously acquired. Its main development direction is to face the core parts of the stack \’one membrane and two plates\’ (membrane electrode, graphite bipolar plate and metal bipolar plate). At present, this plate is the core business of fuel cell.”
The reporter learned that in October 2020, Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) acquired 34% equity of Danish IRD fuel cell Co., Ltd. through a wholly-owned subsidiary in Denmark, thus completing the acquisition of 100% equity of IRD. In the same month, Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) initiated the acquisition of 100% equity of borit in Belgium.
In 2020, the sales revenue of Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) hydrogen fuel cell core parts products will reach 77.397 million yuan. Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) insiders said: “at present, most of this revenue is still in two overseas companies. In the future, we will set up factories in China.”
One day after the announcement of Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) , Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co.Ltd(002274) also released relevant contents on the expansion of hydrogen energy industry. The announcement mentioned the progress of several projects, including hydrogen filling station project, hydrogenation station project and hydrogen fuel cell engine.
In this regard, Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co.Ltd(002274) insiders said: “in terms of investment amount, it is still relatively small compared with the company’s revenue. The company mainly relies on its subsidiaries in hydrogen energy, with an investment of about 200 million yuan. However, the company has done a lot of work in the early stage, and will certainly focus on this direction in the future.”
In addition, Shanxi Meijin Energy Co.Ltd(000723) announced on January 1, 2022 that in order to promote the sustainable development of the company’s hydrogen energy business and further improve the layout of the hydrogen energy industry chain. On December 31, 2021, Shanxi Meijin Energy Co.Ltd(000723) a wholly-owned subsidiary, Qingdao Meijin Jiachuang Investment Management Co., Ltd. (as the general partner) and Ningbo Meishan free trade port Meijin Meihe Investment Management Co., Ltd. (as the limited partner), jointly invested and established Meijin Heyang (Qingdao) equity investment partnership [limited partnership, hereinafter referred to as “Meijin Heyang”, formerly known as hydrogen Meijia (Qingdao) equity investment partnership (limited partnership)] jointly signed the capital increase agreement with fengheyang hydrogen energy technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “fengheyang”) and its existing shareholders to increase the capital of fengheyang with its own funds totaling RMB 20 million. After the capital increase, Meijin Heyang will hold 10% equity of fengheyang.
is still in the market introduction period
It is not difficult to find that China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) has been engaged in oil exploration and development, oil refining and sales for a long time. Among the main businesses of Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co.Ltd(002274) , the coal chemical business has the highest proportion of revenue, while Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) is a company focusing on the R & D, production and sales of automobile core parts and components.
Many companies focus on entering the hydrogen energy market, but their mentality is also different.
“At present, the starting point of fuel cells is still focused on buses and other transport vehicles. Five vehicles have been put into operation before, and 25 vehicles have been put into operation this time. It is not time for mass production, so it still needs to be put into operation gradually, and we should take our time.” Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co.Ltd(002274) insiders said.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) has advantages in the construction of hydrogen refueling stations relying on its own hydrogen energy resources and gas station resources all over the country.
While Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) focuses on the layout of hydrogen energy. “At present, the company mainly focuses on the core parts of hydrogen fuel cell products, because the company has corresponding technology accumulation in auto parts.” Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) insiders said.
The reason why hydrogen energy can attract the layout of many enterprises lies in the attribute and wide source of hydrogen energy as clean energy.
Relevant industry insiders mentioned that hydrogen energy is a very excellent clean and renewable energy. The heat generated by burning 1 kg of liquid hydrogen is 3.2 times that of the same amount of gasoline, and there is no pollution. In addition, since the hydrogenation mode is almost the same as that of traditional fuel vehicles, which can meet the demand for long-range mileage, hydrogen fuel cells will occupy a greater advantage in long-distance freight vehicles in the future.
But in the view of relevant industry insiders: “hydrogen energy is not a new thing. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been developed since 2000, but the manufacturing cost was too high at that time, so it could only stay in the laboratory stage.”
Today, cost is still one of the important factors restricting the development of hydrogen energy industry. “The research and development of hydrogen energy has just started, and they are all in the market introduction stage. At present, the cost is still relatively high, and now local governments are actively promoting it.” Weifu High-Technology Group Co.Ltd(000581) insiders said.
In addition, industry insiders said in an interview with reporters that at present, hydrogen has a large output in China, but it is mainly used in industrial production processes and rarely used as energy. Comprehensive utilization of hydrogen energy involves hydrogen production enterprises and liquefaction, storage and transportation of liquid hydrogen, and terminal applications. This involves many links, and how to get through these links is a difficult problem.
In recent years, the hydrogen energy industry has experienced from early promotion to being written into the government work report for the first time in 2019. Subsequently, hydrogen energy is mentioned in the forward-looking planning of future industries in the “14th five year plan” and the long-term goal outline of 2035.
The reporter noted that since 2021, urban clusters including Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have released layout plans for hydrogen energy industry. Among them, in November 2021, Shanghai issued several policies on supporting the development of fuel cell vehicle industry in Shanghai. In December 2021, Guangdong fuel cell vehicle demonstration and application city cluster was launched, and the action plan for accelerating the construction of fuel cell vehicle demonstration city cluster in Guangdong Province (2021-2025) (Draft for comments) was issued. In the same month, the Beijing Tianjin Hebei fuel cell vehicle demonstration city cluster was launched, and documents such as the implementation plan of Beijing Tianjin Hebei fuel cell vehicle demonstration city cluster (simplified version) and the annual task plan of Beijing Tianjin Hebei fuel cell vehicle demonstration city cluster were released. In addition, industrial supporting policies focusing on hydrogen energy in many parts of the country are also being introduced one after another.
On January 8, 2022, when attending hydrogen energy related activities, Li Ganjie, Secretary of Shandong provincial Party committee, said that hydrogen energy is not only an important carrier of green energy transformation, but also an important starting point for realizing carbon peak and carbon neutralization. “We will take the development of hydrogen energy as an important engine to promote industrial transformation and upgrading and accelerate the adjustment of energy structure.”
