Under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutralization, hydrogen energy has become one of the important measures to deal with climate change and accelerate energy transformation. At present, the “national team” composed of central enterprises is accelerating its entry into the field of hydrogen energy.
A recent example is that on January 11, the South China hydrogen energy industry base planned by the State Power Investment Group officially settled in Nanhai, Foshan, with a total planned investment of about 10 billion yuan.
“The implementation of the national power investment project highlights the greater enthusiasm of the \’national team\’ in the field of hydrogen energy and enriches the hydrogen energy industry chain in South China.” Li Shencheng, a senior expert in the hydrogen energy industry and former head of the first commercial hydrogen refueling station in China, analyzed and said in an interview with the first financial reporter, “At the same time, China’s hydrogen energy field also needs to further effectively stimulate the terminal application market, promote the technological breakthrough and cost control of hydrogen production, storage, transportation and processing, and enable the rapid and balanced development of the whole hydrogen energy industry chain.”
According to Wan Gang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese people’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the China Association for science and technology, with more and more consensus on the “double carbon” vision and goal in the world, hydrogen energy has become the future direction of energy transformation and development, and the R & D and industrialization of hydrogen energy technology have entered an accelerated stage.
Hydrogen energy industry has been written into the outline of China’s 14th five year plan. The white paper on China’s hydrogen energy industry predicts that the output value of hydrogen energy will exceed 10 trillion yuan in 2050. In the future, China will be the largest hydrogen energy market in the world. When carbon neutralization is realized in 2060, the scale of hydrogen energy industry will exceed the current scale of oil industry and become a new growth pole leading economic development.
According to the official data, the first financial reporter found that up to now, more than 30 provinces and cities across the country have arranged the hydrogen energy industry, of which more and more central enterprises have participated in investment.
key technologies have been gradually broken through
The South China hydrogen energy industry base of state power investment group in Guangdong will build the only hydrogen energy industry base of membrane materials and carbon paper in South China.
The project is planned to be located in Danzao Town, Nanhai District. The first phase plans to invest 2 billion yuan, focusing on the construction of production lines such as membrane materials, carbon paper, fuel cells and power systems, as well as the R & D and innovation platform of key technologies and products of fuel cells, and preliminarily build a hydrogen energy industry base integrating R & D and innovation, high-end manufacturing and demonstration application. At the same time, carry out technology R & D, equipment manufacturing, demonstration and application promotion around the above key links of the industrial chain.
Membrane materials, carbon paper, fuel cell and power system are the key technologies of fuel cell automobile industry in hydrogen energy industry, and these technologies are mainly mastered by Europe, America, Japan and other countries. At present, most of the above key technologies and parts used in China come from imports.
The import price of these key technologies and parts is quite expensive. Taking membrane materials as an example, according to the current market situation, the price of 1 square centimeter of DuPont Nafion membrane (perfluorosulfonic acid proton exchange membrane) is several yuan or even nearly ten yuan, and each vehicle needs membrane materials of square meter level. This means that the cost of membrane materials alone is tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan for a car.
As the “heart” of fuel cells, the power system accounts for about 50% or more of the cost of the whole vehicle. This directly pushes up the cost of the whole hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. In China, the price of the same bus using hydrogen fuel cell is three to five times that of fuel vehicles.
In this case, China’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicles need to make breakthroughs in key technologies in order to achieve large-scale, healthy and stable development in the future.
“When I came back, I started with the materials of the fuel cell.” Chai Maorong, chief technology officer of state power investment hydrogen energy company, told China business news that after returning from Japan a few years ago, he devoted himself to the research and development of fuel cells. “Why start with materials, because as long as you get a card from abroad, you can\’t buy materials.” He explained.
After several years of exploration, the state power investment has made a new breakthrough in the “eight neck technology”. For example, in terms of catalysts, the company has mastered relevant core technologies, obtained patents and achieved mass production, and the performance and quality of products are all higher than the world leading level.
Similarly, after returning to China from the United States in 2016, Zhang Ruiming, who is now the executive director of Guangdong Institute of hydrogen energy industry technology and the director of fuel cell test center of Foshan Xianhu laboratory, also started from materials. “As long as we do it in a down-to-earth manner, do a good job in the materials required by the stack and the matching optimization between the materials involved in the eight major parts of the fuel cell, over time, China’s hydrogen fuel cell automobile industry will be developed.” He told the first financial reporter.
According to Zhang Ruiming, since its establishment two years ago, Guangdong Institute of hydrogen energy industry technology of Wuhan University of technology has applied for nearly 20 invention patents in fuel cell materials, and incubated three production-oriented fuel cell companies through technology transfer.
” national team”
State power investment is only one of the central enterprises entering the field of hydrogen energy. Central enterprises such as China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) , Petrochina Company Limited(601857) , state power investment, national energy group, Dongfang Electric Corporation Limited(600875) , China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited(601868) , China Cssc Holdings Limited(600150) , Huaneng Group, Huadian Group, Dongfeng Automobile Co.Ltd(600006) , CRRC group and FAW Group are also among them.
Like SDIC, Dongfang Electric Corporation Limited(600875) has recently taken action on the layout of hydrogen energy. For example, on November 30, 2021, Sichuan Province and Chongqing held the launch ceremony of “Chengdu Chongqing hydrogen corridor” and the launch ceremony of hydrogen fuel cell logistics vehicle. Among them, Dongfang Electric Corporation Limited(600875) will participate in the establishment of the technological innovation ecosystem alliance of “Chengdu Chongqing hydrogen corridor”. At present, Dongfang Electric Corporation Limited(600875) has invested a lot of manpower and material resources to develop high-performance membrane electrode system, electric reactor and other products, as well as key equipment for hydrogen production and hydrogenation.
Also in November 2021, China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited(601868) plans to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, China energy construction Hydrogen Energy Development Co., Ltd., with a total investment of 5 billion yuan. This is China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited(601868) the whole hydrogen energy industry chain and integrated development platform created to coordinate and lead the development of the company’s hydrogen energy business.
Compared with the above enterprises, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) of the “three barrels of oil” is the most active in the layout of hydrogen energy industry. In 2021, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation(600028) publicly stated that during the “14th five year plan” period, it will accelerate the development of new energy business with hydrogen energy as the core, and plans to layout 1000 hydrogen refueling stations or oil hydrogen joint construction stations.
At present, central enterprises have layout from the key technologies and parts of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to the upstream and downstream links such as hydrogenation stations that provide fuel to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
In addition, local state-owned enterprises are also laying out hydrogen energy. “We are also looking everywhere for suitable hydrogen energy projects.” A relevant person in charge of a local state-owned enterprise said in an interview with the first financial reporter, “there is too much space for the hydrogen energy industry.”
Up to now, state energy group, State Grid, Dongfang Electric Corporation Limited(600875) , Aerospace Hi-Tech Holding Group Co.Ltd(000901) , China shipbuilding industry, Baowu iron and steel, Crrc Corporation Limited(601766) , Three Gorges group, China FAW, Dongfeng Automobile Co.Ltd(600006) , China Steel Research and other central enterprises have formed a “national team” with strong lineup and strength. This “national team” called China hydrogen energy alliance was established in 2018.
The establishment of the alliance was known at that time as marking the opening of large-scale commercial application of hydrogen energy in China.
So far, the number of member units of China hydrogen energy alliance has increased to 105. Among the 105 members, there are 25 central enterprises and affiliated units, 19 local state-owned enterprises, 13 universities and scientific research institutes, 32 private enterprises, and 16 foreign-funded and institutions in China. There are 9 local alliances and 5 provincial hydrogen energy innovation research centers initiated by member units. In terms of the composition of alliance member units, central enterprises account for the highest proportion.
How can we make this powerful “national team” stronger? A well-known technical expert of a central enterprise put forward such a suggestion in a document provided to the first financial reporter: “it is necessary to have national level planning, design and organize technical research led by large central enterprises, and jointly open up the key technologies of the industrial chain and realize the complete localization of core materials.”
hydrogen energy
Since 2022, many places have also accelerated the layout of hydrogen energy industry.
On January 6, Henan Provincial People’s government issued the 2022 government work report (review version), focusing on key areas such as quantum, hydrogen energy and new energy storage frontier and new materials, planned to build Zheng Bian Luopu hydrogen energy corridor, and accelerated the R & D and integrated layout of the whole hydrogen energy industry chain.
On January 5, Hebei issued the implementation opinions on completely, accurately and comprehensively implementing the new development concept and earnestly doing a good job in carbon peak and carbon neutralization, proposing to promote the application of renewable energy in big data, hydrogen production and other industries, clean heating and public transportation, and accelerate the promotion and application of hydrogen fuel cell heavy trucks. On the same day, the notice on the energy development plan of Gansu Province in the 14th five year plan issued by the general office of Gansu Provincial People’s government pointed out that we should cultivate the hydrogen energy industry, accelerate the pilot of electrolytic water hydrogen production, build a large-scale green hydrogen production base, orderly promote the infrastructure construction of hydrogen production industry, and plan hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, hydrogen transportation, hydrogen refueling stations Hydrogen fuel cell “five in one” hydrogen energy industrial park.
On January 5, the Department of ecological environment of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region issued a notice on the 14th five year plan of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to deal with climate change, pointing out that by 2025, strive to build 1 ~ 2 hydrogenation stations with a daily hydrogenation capacity of 500 kg or more, and actively support Yinchuan to take the lead in opening 1 ~ 2 demonstration bus lines operating hydrogen fuel cell buses, And gradually expand to the demonstration operation of intercity hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles in Yinchuan metropolitan area.
So far, Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Shanghai and Guangdong have taken a big step in the layout of hydrogen energy industry. On November 3, 2021, Shanghai took the lead in releasing the landing plan – Several Policies on supporting the development of fuel cell vehicle industry in Shanghai. On December 8 of the same year, Guangdong fuel cell vehicle demonstration and application city cluster was launched. Previously, the action plan for accelerating the construction of fuel cell vehicle demonstration city cluster in Guangdong Province (2021-2025) (Exposure Draft) had been publicly released. On December 25 of the same year, the Beijing Tianjin Hebei fuel cell vehicle demonstration urban agglomeration was officially launched, and the implementation plan of Beijing Tianjin Hebei fuel cell vehicle demonstration urban agglomeration (simplified version) and the annual task plan of Beijing Tianjin Hebei fuel cell vehicle demonstration urban agglomeration were released.
By the end of 2021, the three major demonstration urban agglomerations of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong had been officially launched one after another. For more than 18 application scenarios such as ore and steel transportation, building material transportation and vehicle logistics, it is planned to promote more than 20000 fuel cell vehicles and build more than 306 hydrogenation stations.
It is noteworthy that according to the public data, the number of fuel cell vehicles planned by Guangdong, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei and Jiangsu is more than 10000 from the perspective of the fuel cell vehicles planned by various provinces and cities in 2025.
