China's innovation links unstable energy to stable green fuel output

China on Tuesday announced a potentially world-changing tech breakthrough in the renewable energy sector with the official launch of phase one of the "Qingqing No. 1" facility, dubbed the world's largest green hydrogen-ammonia-methanol integrated project in the northeastern Jilin Province.

The project's developer, China Energy Engineering Group, announced that the facility has cracked the "world-class challenge" of coupling intermittent new energy fluctuations with stable chemical production.

The facility utilizes an innovative "wind-solar-hydrogen-ammonia-methanol integration" model powered by a direct green power supply system.

According to company chairman Ni Zhen, the breakthrough opens "a new, feasible path for the large-scale consumption of new energy and the promotion of green hydrogen-based chemical development."

The project's control system acts like a brain, using big data and AI to match the power output from wind and solar farms with the energy demands of its chemical processes. This flexibility addresses the critical issue of power fluctuations, ensuring the continuity and safety required for downstream production of green ammonia and methanol.

With a total planned investment of nearly 30 billion yuan (about $4.2 billion), phase one of the project has commenced with 800 megawatts of new energy capacity, set to produce 45,000 tonnes of green hydrogen, and 200,000 tonnes of ammonia and methanol every year.

This initial output of green hydrogen alone is equivalent to about one-fifth of China's current total annual production. The facility also features 64 electrolyzer units and 450,000 cubic meters of spherical hydrogen storage – the world's largest currently in operation.

Environmentally, the project is expected to result in an annual reduction of 1.4 million tonnes of carbon.

The green ammonia and green methanol produced are critical, easily transportable forms of zero-carbon fuel that will be widely applied across sectors such as ocean shipping and industrial production.

The launch reinforces China's dominant position in the sector, where its green hydrogen capacity already exceeds half of the world's total.