(From the perspective of things) Japan wants to become the world's first hydrogen energy?
China News Agency, Beijing, June 25 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has sounded the alarm on energy security for many countries.
Japan has recently begun to accelerate the research and development and promotion of hydrogen energy, and it wants to become the world's first "hydrogen economy" and lead the global market.
But whether this goal can be achieved remains to be seen.
Hydrogen energy is an effective tool to achieve low-carbon emissions and plays an irreplaceable and important role in the global energy transition.
Compared with other renewable energy sources, hydrogen energy has a significant advantage in that it can be stored on a large scale across seasons.
Among them, green hydrogen is the only means of deep decarbonization in many industries, including the industrial fields represented by petrochemicals, steel, and chemicals, and the transportation industry represented by aviation.
According to the forecast of the International Hydrogen Energy Commission, the hydrogen energy market will reach 2.5 trillion US dollars by 2050.
As an island country with limited resources, Japan has always had a sense of crisis in terms of energy security.
As early as the 1970s when the oil crisis occurred, Japan began to pay attention to the research and development of hydrogen technology.
At present, in addition to dealing with the impact of the climate crisis and the Russian-Ukrainian war, Japan's energy strategy is more inclined to create a "hydrogen energy society". Its basic strategy for hydrogen energy is to increase the proportion of hydrogen energy used in the energy structure in 2030.
According to foreign media reports, as a basic means of transportation, Japan's hydrogen energy buses are already on the road.
Today, Japan focuses its research and development on long-distance transportation, such as hydrogen-powered aircraft and express trains, and has a clear goal of putting it on the market.
In addition to general cars, large-scale hydrogen energy trucks for logistics are a hot spot for active research and development by major Japanese automobile companies.
Hydrogen vehicles take less time to charge than electric vehicles, giving them an advantage in long-distance transportation.
East Japan Railway Co., Ltd. aims to launch hydrogen energy trains by 2030.
The enterprise conducted trial operations on some routes in Kanagawa Prefecture at the end of March this year.
These hydrogen trains have hydrogen tanks mounted on the roof, which react with oxygen in the air to generate electricity.
The train does not emit carbon dioxide when running and can reach a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
However, it remains to be seen whether Japan's ambitions can be realized under the "heroes competing for the deer".
Now, many developed economies such as the European Union, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom are actively deploying the hydrogen energy industry.
At present, 20 countries and regions around the world have released hydrogen energy development strategies.
Wei Suo, chairman of the Hydrogen Energy Branch of China Industrial Development Promotion Association, said that now Europe focuses on the development of pipelines for hydrogen transportation, and uses existing natural gas infrastructure to gradually build a hydrogen pipeline network. It is expected that the total length will reach 23,000 kilometers in 2040; the United States has global Half of the mileage of the hydrogen pipeline operates more than 15 liquid hydrogen plants with a total production capacity of more than 326 tons per day, ranking first in the world; Japan and South Korea are developing transoceanic transportation supply chains for organic compounds, liquid ammonia and liquid hydrogen.
Data shows that by 2021, more than 800 hydrogen refueling stations have been built around the world, 30% of which are liquid hydrogen refueling stations, mainly in Japan and the United States.
The number of hydrogen refueling stations in the world is expected to exceed 4,500 in 2030.
China is also actively promoting the development of the hydrogen energy industry.
Officially, hydrogen energy is an important part of the future national energy system, and the hydrogen energy industry is a strategic emerging industry and a key development direction of the future industry.
Many provinces and cities have incorporated hydrogen energy development plans into the new energy vehicle industry, overall energy development, and strategic emerging industry development plans.
For example, Shanghai proposed that by 2025, the scale of the hydrogen energy industry chain should exceed 100 billion yuan, and about 70 hydrogen refueling stations will be built.
At present, the scale of China's hydrogen energy-related industries is growing rapidly.
According to statistics, China's total hydrogen production in 2021 will reach 33 million tons, and the application scenarios are further expanding. Among them, the number of fuel cell vehicles in the transportation field is nearly 9,000, and the application in industry, construction and other fields is also accelerating.
Wei Suo said that although China's hydrogen energy industry started late, it has developed rapidly. It has the ability and conditions to rapidly promote the large-scale application of hydrogen energy and iterative upgrading of technologies. It has a huge market space and is expected to reach the international advanced level by 2030.
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