Dense pipe network, water storage tank, gas storage tank, plus various pressure gauges, this is a complete set of systems from electrolysis of water to hydrogen, to solid hydrogen storage, to hydrogenation, fuel cell power generation, and surplus power grid. On Xiaohu Island in Nansha, Guangzhou, the first grid-side energy storage hydrogen refueling station using solid-state hydrogen storage and supply technology in China has been officially put into operation for just half a year.

Hydrogen energy, known as the "ultimate energy source". In the "Medium and Long-term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry (3-2021)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") issued by the state in March last year, hydrogen energy is listed as an important part of the future national energy system. The development of hydrogen energy has entered the fast lane, and the huge imagination space has made the investment in the hydrogen energy industry have begun to grow rapidly.

Demonstration and exploration of hydrogen energy vehicles

"Guangdong is a province with relatively early hydrogen energy promotion. Guangdong's hydrogen energy landing has a very important feature, that is, the government has promoted vigorously, and the relevant enterprises have acted very quickly. The relevant person in charge of Sinopec Guangdong Petroleum Branch said. As a major hydrogen producer, Sinopec began to cooperate with local governments to promote the construction of hydrogen refueling stations.

As early as 2009, the Foshan Municipal Government has begun the layout of hydrogen energy industry, and first built a "one main and four pairs" hydrogen energy industry base in China, which is why the first oil-hydrogen joint construction station in China will be built in Foshan.

In 2016, the first self-developed hydrogen fuel cell city bus in China was officially unveiled in Foshan.

In 2017, the first commercial hydrogen refueling station in China, Ruihui Hydrogen Refueling Station, was completed in the South China Sea, which kicked off the construction of hydrogen refueling networks in Foshan.

In July 2019, Sinopec built the first oil-hydrogen combined construction station in Foshan Nanhai, Zhangkeng oil-hydrogen combined construction station. "The use of oil-hydrogen combined station construction to build hydrogen energy outlets is considered by the industry to be the 'most suitable' way to build a station. Adding hydrogen refueling business on the basis of the existing outlets of gas stations can save land resources and give full play to the advantages of oil sales enterprises in management and talents. In 7, commercial profitability will be achieved after one year of operation. The person in charge introduced.

According to the "Plan", the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China will reach about 2025,5 in 2022, and a number of hydrogen refueling stations will be deployed. The Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of Fuel Cell Vehicle Demonstration City Clusters in Guangdong Province (2025-2025) proposes that by 1, Guangdong demonstration city clusters should form a group of leading enterprises with leading technology and strong international competitiveness, achieve the goal of promoting more than 10,<> fuel cell vehicles, and have an annual hydrogen supply capacity of more than <>,<> tons.

As an important demonstration window for hydrogen energy applications, many companies have accelerated the layout of this track, and the attention of hydrogen fuel vehicles as an important commercial application scenario is undoubted.

If it is only used as a vehicle power, it is difficult for hydrogen vehicles to replicate the glory of electric vehicles. However, as a clean energy and industrial raw material, hydrogen energy should have broader prospects for its use.

A hydrogen fuel cell is a power generation device

"The importance of using fuel cell vehicles as a demonstration window is self-evident. However, some people are easy to simply equate hydrogen energy with fuel cells, fuel cells with fuel cell vehicles, and then compare with electric vehicles, which is biased and reduces the importance of the entire hydrogen energy industry. Ye Siyu, academician of the Canadian National Academy of Engineering, vice chairman and chief technology officer of Hongji Chuangneng emphasized that the hydrogen energy industry has its unique use in industry, agriculture, power generation and other fields in addition to the transportation field.

From the perspective of energy structure transformation and adjustment, hydrogen energy plays a good role in connecting the two ends from energy production to energy use, and its importance under the "dual carbon" goal is self-evident.

"There are many flashpoints for hydrogen energy in the future, such as in the field of power generation and the chemical industry, in fact, the large demand in these fields can drive the cost of hydrogen in the transportation sector to decrease." Ye Siyu pointed out.

In Guangdong, hydrogen energy application scenarios are constantly expanding. At Baosteel's Zhanjiang Iron and Steel Base, the steel structure of the million-ton hydrogen-based shaft furnace body has been successfully topped out, and construction is being accelerated, and it is planned to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2023. Hydrogen-based shaft furnace is a "carbon reduction artifact", this hydrogen-based shaft furnace will use natural gas, coke oven gas and a large proportion of hydrogen to produce 100 million tons of high-quality direct reduced iron per year, compared with the traditional iron pre-whole process blast furnace ironmaking process of the same scale of molten iron production, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50,<> tons per year, which is also the first million-ton hydrogen-based shaft furnace in China.

"The application scenario of hydrogen in the power grid is almost alive in the smart energy station of Xiaohudao in Nansha." Lei Jinyong, general manager of the hydrogen energy research center of Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau, told reporters that the energy station has solved the problem of randomness and seasonal fluctuations of new energy power generation through the integration of hydrogen energy production, storage, power generation and hydrogenation. At the same time, the energy station is a new energy infrastructure integrating energy grid and transportation network, which is of great significance to the construction of a new power system and a new energy system in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Hydrogen energy storage and electrochemical energy storage have an essential difference, hydrogen fuel cell is essentially a power generation device. Lei Jinyong introduced that in the energy dimension, hydrogen energy storage capacity is large, and the capacity scale can reach the level of 100 GW; The discharge time is long in the time dimension, which can realize the discharge adjustment from hour to quarter or even longer period; In the spatial dimension, hydrogen storage and transportation methods are flexible and diverse, do not require specific geographical conditions, and will not damage the ecological environment. "Hydrogen energy storage can be stored on a large scale and long-term period as a good peak shaving power source; Hydrogen energy storage can carry out large-scale and large-scale energy transfer to solve the problem of source-load space mismatch; Hydrogen energy storage can carry out large-scale cross-industry energy consumption and achieve deep decarbonization of the whole society. ”

"The entire hydrogen energy industry chain can be divided into upstream hydrogen production, midstream hydrogen transportation, and downstream hydrogen use, and the upstream, middle and downstream jointly open a large hydrogen energy market, and also serve as mutual power and constraint." Industry insiders believe.

The future of green hydrogen

Recently, the National Standards Commission, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Emergency Management, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the Guidelines for the Construction of Hydrogen Energy Industry Standard System (2023 Edition) (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines). This is the first guide for the construction of the standard system of the whole hydrogen energy industry chain at the national level in China.

Since the first mention of hydrogen energy in the State Council's Government Work Report in March 2019, the development of hydrogen energy industry has undoubtedly become an important strategic measure to ensure national energy security, optimize energy production and consumption structure, promote clean and low-carbon energy transformation, implement the "dual carbon" goal and lead economic and social development.

The willingness to develop the hydrogen energy industry has been increasing throughout the country, and support policies have been intensively introduced. Taking Guangdong as an example, in 2020, the "Guangdong Province Action Plan for Cultivating New Energy Strategic Emerging Industry Clusters" proposed to promote renewable energy hydrogen production, and then successively issued the "Guangdong Province Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Development of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Industry", "Guangdong Province Construction of New Power System to Promote High-quality Development of Electric Power Action Plan (2021-2025)" and "Guangdong Province Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of Fuel Cell Vehicle Demonstration City Cluster (2022-2025)". Various cities have also issued a number of policies and plans to support the development of the hydrogen energy industry.

"Guangdong Province is at the forefront of the country in supporting and promoting the development of hydrogen energy and has accumulated rich experience. On this basis, the planning of the hydrogen energy industry in the region can be further deepened and refined, especially focusing on the matching and coordination of existing and emerging policies, further opening up the 'blocking points' between departments and regions, making the implementation of policies smoother and more efficient, further reducing the uncertainty of policies (including the implementation level), and enhancing investor confidence. Lu Xin, partner of EY Greater China Energy and Resources Industry, suggested that around hydrogen energy production, storage, transmission, refueling and use, it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of strong hydrogen energy absorption capacity and rich application scenarios, such as hydrogen heavy trucks, hydrogen energy ships, P2X, etc. The government can also strengthen the cultivation of the demand side through similar policy preferences and incentives, and drive the development of the front end of the value chain with demand.

In addition, Lu Xin specifically mentioned that on the supply side, it is recommended to increase efforts to explore the development path of hydrogen production by offshore wind power electrolysis of water to shorten the time of dependence on gray hydrogen on the supply side in the short and medium term. The development of green hydrogen through renewable energy is the way of the future. (Nanfang Daily)