BEIJING
\nChina\u2019s top economic planner announced a target on Wednesday to produce up to 200,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen, a zero-carbon fuel generated from renewable energy sources, by 2025, but envisions a more widespread industry over the long term.
\nThe country aims to produce 100,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year and have about 50,000 hydrogen-fuelled vehicles by 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement.
\nChina, the world\u2019s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has been striving to balance energy security and achieve its climate change goals, and is focusing on hydrogen to reduce carbon emissions from its transportation and industrial sectors.
\nGreen hydrogen is gas produced from breaking down water in electrolysis using renewable energy sources, reducing the amount of carbon emissions released during the process compared to hydrogen created from natural gas or coal.
\n\u201cDevelopment of hydrogen is an important move for energy transition and a great support for China\u2019s carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals,\u201d said Wang Xiang, the deputy director of the High Technology Department at the NDRC, at a press briefing.
\nChina currently produces 33 million tonnes of hydrogen a year, with about 80% of hydrogen coming from coal and natural gas, and the rest mainly a by-product from industrial sectors, according to the government.
\nData from the China Hydrogen Alliance, an industrial association, shows the country produced 500,000 tonnes of hydrogen from water electrolysis in 2019.
\nWang said that even though most of China\u2019s hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, the potential of green hydrogen is huge since the country has the world\u2019s largest renewable power capacity.
\nThe NDRC statement said that China aims to establish a complete hydrogen industry covering transportation, energy storage and industrial sectors, and \u201csignificantly improve\u201d the portion of green hydrogen in China\u2019s energy consumption by 2035.
\nThe China Hydrogen Alliance has estimated China\u2019s hydrogen demand will reach 35 million tonnes per year by 2030, from 20 million tonnes now, and reach 60 million tonnes by 2050.
\nHydrogen can be used in fuel cells and in internal combustion engines.
\nHigh production costs are one of the major obstacles impeding hydrogen development. Analysts estimate that hydrogen prices would need to halve in order to compete with gasoline and diesel.
\nThe NDRC called for a rational layout of hydrogen projects based on resources and market demand to avoid disorderly competition.
\n\u201cLocal government will be strictly forbidden to blindly follow the trend of hydrogen project construction and will be prevented from building low-end projects in order to avoid the waste of resources,\u201d said Wang.
\nAlmost all provinces and regions in China have included hydrogen into their development plans.
\nSome major Chinese companies in the energy, auto and metallurgy sectors, such as Sinopec, Baosteel and GCL, have also expanded their businesses to include hydrogen production, using natural gas and renewable energy, building hydrogen filling stations and using hydrogen in steelmaking and transportation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING China\u2019s top economic planner announced a target on Wednesday to produce up to 200,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen, a zero-carbon fuel generated from renewable energy sources, by 2025, but envisions a more widespread industry over the long term. The country aims to produce 100,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-250972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n