China tops world in hydrogen stations, fueling a clean energy future

China is at the forefront of the global hydrogen race, boasting the world's largest network of hydrogen refueling stations. With its ambitious clean energy goals and substantial investments, the country is paving the way for a future powered by this zero-emission fuel.

According to Jiang Lijun, vice president of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, China has built over 400 hydrogen refueling stations, ranking first in the world in the number of hydrogen refueling stations, and 280 have started operations. 

The China Hydrogen Alliance (CHA) estimated that by 2025, China's hydrogen energy industry output value will reach 1 trillion yuan (about $14 billion). Hydrogen energy will account for more than 10 percent of China's terminal energy system, and the annual output value of the industrial chain will reach 12 trillion yuan by then.

The scale of China's hydrogen energy market will reach 43 million tonnes by 2030, with green hydrogen increasing from 1 percent of energy in 2019 to 10 percent, and the market scale will increase nearly 30 times, according to the CHA.

Green hydrogen means hydrogen derived from electricity generated from green and renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power.

World's largest hydrogen producer

According to the World Economic Forum's latest white paper, China is the largest producer and consumer of hydrogen globally, but less than 0.1 percent of the hydrogen it produces comes from renewable sources. 

Hydrogen is a versatile source of energy with low carbon emissions and wide application. It has great significance for building a clean, low-carbon emissions, safe and efficient energy system and achieving China's carbon peaking and neutrality goals.

Globally, it has become an important strategic choice for major developed economies seeking to accelerate their energy transformation and upgrading. A growing number of countries are releasing national strategies to support the hydrogen energy industry, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). 

In August, China released its first national-level construction guideline for the standards of the hydrogen energy industry chain to implement the national deployment of the industry and put in place a relatively complete hydrogen energy industry development system by 2025.

The new guideline for hydrogen energy will add fuel to China's new-energy and green development sectors, supplementing the plan on the development of hydrogen energy for the 2021-2035 period, released in March.

Jointly released by several ministries and departments in China, the new guideline aims to accelerate the formulation of relevant technical standards and improve the international standards for hydrogen energy, according to a statement on the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation.

It also clarified the key domestic and international hydrogen energy standardization tasks in the next three years, which include the development of core standards and the promotion of international standardization.

In earlier November, south China's Guangdong Province issued a guideline, calling for the acceleration of the development of the hydrogen industry and expanding the scale of the industry to 300 billion by 2027.

By 2025, China will put in place a relatively complete hydrogen energy industry development system, with the innovation capability significantly improved and the core technologies and manufacturing processes basically mastered, according to the March plan. 

By 2035, the proportion of hydrogen produced from renewable energy in terminal energy consumption will increase significantly, playing an important supporting role in China's green energy transformation.

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