Nation ups efforts for hydrogen

"In terms of hydrogen energy production, projects of hydrogen produced from renewable resources have been actively promoted in North and Northwest China, and the cost of hydrogen produced in the electrolysis of water has been decreased in a stable manner. As for hydrogen energy filling, more than 280 hydrogen refueling stations have been built, ranking tops in the world," Xiang said.

In terms of applications, in addition to the traditional chemical, as well as the iron and steel industries, the use of hydrogen has also been steadily promoted in sectors such as transportation and construction, Xiang said.

Local governments have also stepped up efforts to encourage the development of the hydrogen industry. Guangdong province has leveraged its strengths in car manufacturing to ramp up the development of a hydrogen fuel cell automobile industry cluster. Shandong province has also beefed up efforts in building hydrogen energy industrial parks and equipping highways with hydrogen refueling stations.

"Commercial vehicles are the key and a difficult point of carbon reduction in the automobile industry. Taking heavy trucks as an example, although the number accounts for about 7.9 percent of the total, they are responsible for 47 percent of carbon emissions among all types of vehicles. The application of hydrogen fuel heavy trucks will help accelerate the low-carbon transition of commercial vehicles," Zhang said.

"It is necessary to continue to intensify technological research and development efforts, give full play to the leading role of enterprises in innovation, support the deep integration of industry, universities and research institutes, and form an efficient collaborative innovation system. At the same time, it is important to cultivate hydrogen energy professionals," Zhang said.

Wan Gang, chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, said China's development of hydrogen has entered a new phase. "It is important to further explore the development of green hydrogen and its relevant trading market."

Green hydrogen is obtained through renewable energies while gray hydrogen — the most common form of hydrogen production at present — is created from gas or methane, causing greenhouse emissions.

According to the NDRC, compared with gray hydrogen, China's market size for green hydrogen is still relatively small but is showing an active developing trend.

Wan said that during the Winter Olympics and Paralympics this year, about 1,200 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were used, which helped reduce carbon emissions by some 2,200 tons.

Currently, areas in North and Northwest China, such as the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, are stepping up efforts to leverage their abundant wind and solar resources to develop green hydrogen. "The sector is showing good momentum," he said.

Jing Chunmei, director of scientific research and information at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said currently, factors like high storage costs and insufficient transportation capacity still hinder the development of green hydrogen.

"Going forward, efforts are expected to set up a national standard to define purity and other parameters of green hydrogen, optimize sources of green hydrogen generation, promote a more efficient transportation system and encourage more use of green hydrogen in the industry sector," Jing said.

"Moreover, it is important to reduce costs through efforts such as encouraging innovation in technologies, business models and structural reforms to make hydrogen power generation profitable," she said.

"In order to encourage hydrogen production from renewable resources, subsidies can be given to encourage hydrogen energy companies and hydrogen storage businesses to participate in power trading, because the power generated from green hydrogen and gray hydrogen does not have a comparative advantage in price without subsidies," she added.