China's Green Hydrogen Industry Sees Historic Breakthrough
In Xinjiang Kuqa Economic and Technological Development Zone, Sinopec's Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project went into full production on August 30th. The project marks a breakthrough in the large-scale industrial application of China's domestically produced green hydrogen, which is the future and hope for the development of the hydrogen energy industry. The Kuche project can go into full production, integrating and driving a series of domestically produced technologies and equipment, which greatly promotes the development process of the domestic hydrogen energy industry chain. For investors, this is an important point of view. Electrolysis tank is one of the core equipment for green hydrogen production, and the current green hydrogen demonstration projects including Sinopec, PetroChina, National Energy Group, and Three Gorges Group have started one after another. The continuous heating of green hydrogen projects has also driven the rapid growth of the electrolyzer industry. It is predicted that the domestic shipment of electrolyzer will reach 2.3GW in 2023, a year-on-year growth of about 190%. New players are pouring into the electrolyzer track, but the involution of the electrolyzer market has become the industry's "poison". Therefore, electrolyzer manufacturers need to continue the technology iteration ability to stand in the market. The industrial chain cost structure, hydrogen production end of the cost reduction seems to be more effective. Although the current green hydrogen can not be applied on a large scale, but with more green hydrogen project landing, the upstream hydrogen production link will usher in a sustained technological upgrades and cost reduction and efficiency, will certainly promote the green hydrogen parity and large-scale application. In terms of green hydrogen cost reduction, the cost of hydrogen production from photovoltaic electrolyzed water in the Kuqa project can reach RMB 18/kg, which is about half of the current green hydrogen production cost. The entire PV project in Kuqa covers an area of more than 9,500 acres, and a PV panel can produce 1 kilogram of hydrogen for every 58 degrees of green electricity generated. More green hydrogen demonstration projects will be landed in the second half of this year, and many upstream hydrogen production enterprises are gearing up for the second half of the year to spell shipments and performance. Green hydrogen cost reduction is only a matter of time, with more green hydrogen project landing, the upstream hydrogen production link will usher in a sustained technological upgrading and cost reduction and efficiency, will certainly promote the green hydrogen affordable and large-scale application.