Multinational efforts to promote the development of the hydrogen energy industry (international perspective)

  Core reading

  Hydrogen is clean and environmentally friendly.

Major economies in the world have taken the development of hydrogen energy as an important starting point for tackling climate change and realizing the energy low-carbon transition, and have included hydrogen energy in their national energy strategic plans.

The commercialization of the hydrogen energy industry is accelerating.

  Hydrogen energy is an important exploration direction of the energy revolution.

The "Global Hydrogen Energy Progress" report released by the International Energy Agency not long ago showed that hydrogen energy technology maintained a strong momentum of development in 2019, and the electrolytic hydrogen capacity put into operation set a new record.

Thanks to the drop in hydrogen production costs and the technological advancement of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the hydrogen energy industry has received more and more attention from countries, and the pace of development and utilization has been accelerated.

  Hydrogen energy is getting more and more attention

  The leaders of France and Germany and people in the economic circles recently held a video conference to discuss the adoption of targeted measures and appropriate regulatory frameworks to support the development of hydrogen energy-related industrial technology and enhance the competitiveness of European companies in the hydrogen energy field.

France and Germany have planned to officially launch the "Major Project of Common European Interest" related to hydrogen energy by the end of this year.

  Up to now, major economies in the world have launched hydrogen energy development strategies and continue to increase support to promote the development of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry.

Statistics show that 18 economies, which account for 70% of the world’s total economy, have formulated hydrogen energy development strategies.

  The European Union issued the "EU Hydrogen Energy Strategy" in July and established the "European Clean Hydrogen Alliance". It plans to have a production capacity of 40 GW by 2030 and produce 10 million tons of hydrogen; by 2050, the proportion of hydrogen energy in the energy structure Increase to 12% to 14% to achieve carbon neutrality goals.

Not long ago, the European Union of Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Energy Businesses released the "European Hydrogen Energy Roadmap", which proposed the development plan of European hydrogen energy in the next 30 years, and was supported by 17 European hydrogen energy companies and organizations.

  South Korea, Japan and other economies have also accelerated the deployment of hydrogen energy industry development.

The South Korean government officially announced the "Roadmap for Hydrogen Energy Economic Development" last year, with the goal of "leading the development of the global hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and fuel cell market".

According to the plan, by 2025, South Korea will build a production system with an annual output of 100,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles; by 2040, the cumulative production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will increase to 6.2 million, and hydrogen fuel cell buses will strive to reach 40,000. , The number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging stations has increased to 1,200.

The South Korean government believes that if the relevant hydrogen energy industry policies can be implemented smoothly, it can create 43 trillion won (1 U.S. dollar equals 1,134 won) of annual added value and 420,000 jobs by 2040.

  The Japanese government formulated the "Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen Fuel Cells" as early as 2014, and has since revised it twice.

The Japanese government plans to narrow the price gap between hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and hybrid vehicles to 700,000 yen (1 U.S. dollar equals 105 yen) by 2025.

The Japanese government took the Tokyo Olympics as an important opportunity to promote the realization of a hydrogen energy society.

In addition to using hydrogen as the torch stand and fuel for the Tokyo Olympics, hydrogen refueling stations were also set up around the Olympic Village. Hydrogen refueling services were provided for related vehicles 24 hours during the Olympic Games.

Toyota Motor Corporation, the sponsor of the Tokyo Olympics, plans to provide about 500 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as official vehicles.

  The pace of development continues to accelerate

  Driven and stimulated by policies, the hydrogen energy industry of many countries has taken the lead.

As of the end of 2019, there were 470 hydrogen refueling stations in operation worldwide, a year-on-year increase of over 20%.

Japan ranked first with 113 hydrogen refueling stations, followed by Germany, the United States and China.

The report pointed out that at the end of 2019, the global number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles was 25210.

The sales volume reached 12,350 that year, more than double the 5,800 in 2018.

Especially in the Asian market, sales have increased substantially.

  Germany recently announced a further investment of 9 billion euros, of which 2 billion euros will be used to establish joint hydrogen production plants with international partners.

Germany currently has 84 hydrogen refueling stations, and has filed the most patents in the field of hydrogen fuel cells in Europe, with 17,238 industrial property registrations.

The German government stated that it plans to increase the number of hydrogen refueling stations to 100 by the end of 2020.

France has 160 hydrogen energy projects, and cities such as Pau and Auxerre have opened hydrogen energy bus lines. The number of hydrogen energy taxis in Paris will exceed 600 by the end of this year.

  As of the end of August this year, 133 hydrogen refueling stations have opened in Japan, and 3,800 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been on the market.

According to data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, from January to June this year, South Korea’s exports of environmentally friendly vehicles increased significantly year-on-year. Among them, exports of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles increased by 67.7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, and exports in June increased by more than 4 times. .

  According to the latest statistics, from January to July 2020, the total nominal investment in China's hydrogen energy industry exceeded 130 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 30% compared to 2019.

Up to now, China has promoted more than 7,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and built more than 70 hydrogen refueling stations. The domestic hydrogen energy industry has gradually formed a complete industrial chain.

  There are still many bottlenecks

  The analysis pointed out that the current development prospects of the hydrogen energy industry are generally optimistic, but due to factors such as high development costs, large technical bottlenecks, and shortage of funds, the large-scale commercialization of related industries still has a long way to go.

  The International Energy Agency report shows that "green hydrogen" (electrolytic hydrogen) is expensive, currently at 3.5 to 5 euros per kilogram, which is much higher than the high-carbon "gray hydrogen" made from fossil fuels (1.5 euros/kg).

For some time to come, the market competitiveness of "green hydrogen" will be weak, and long-term investment support will be needed.

According to conservative estimates, if the global hydrogen energy industry is to achieve effective expansion and achieve 24% of the world's energy demand by 2050, investment in this industry will require about 11 trillion US dollars.

  French "Le Monde" economic columnist Philip Esconde believes that the current production cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is much higher than that of pure electric new energy vehicles.

EU countries such as France and Germany have not yet formulated uniform standards, which will further slow down the progress of related projects.

"Hydrogen energy technology takes at least 10 years to mature, so there are still risks for participating companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises will have low participation." Esconde said.

  South Korea’s "Joongang Daily" believes that the development of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry faces many constraints such as insufficient filling stations and requires the construction of a large amount of infrastructure such as production and storage equipment.

The Honorary President of the Korea Hydrogen and New Energy Society, An Guorong, said that while the government vigorously popularizes hydrogen energy vehicles, it should also formulate a plan to popularize its safety so as to increase the public's acceptance of hydrogen fuel.

  "All countries attach great importance to the development of clean energy. Hydrogen, as a green energy, is an important development direction for a low-carbon economy." Michel Delpen, a member of the French National Assembly, is very optimistic about the development potential of hydrogen energy. Cost or breakthroughs in core technologies require greater policy support and cooperation between countries."

  (Our newspaper Paris, Seoul, Tokyo, October 29)

  Our correspondent in France Liu Lingling Our correspondent in South Korea Ma Fei Our correspondent in Japan Liu Junguo

Our correspondent in France Liu Lingling Our correspondent in South Korea Ma Fei Our correspondent in Japan Liu Junguo