According to local officials and industry insiders, the North China province of Shanxi is anticipated to become a national powerhouse for the hydrogen industry.
Shanxi’s energy revolution strategy includes the development of hydrogen as a new source of energy.
Shanxi, which has a long history of coal mining, has recently undertaken an economic transition to lessen its dependency on coal and increase its use of innovative and renewable energy sources.
According to local statistics, energy generation capacity from new and renewable resources accounts for more than 30% of Shanxi’s power industry. The wind power sector has a capacity of 20.47 million kilowatts, while the solar power industry has a capacity of 13.37 million kilowatts.
The administration of Shanxi chose hydrogen as a breakthrough point for the energy revolution for a variety of reasons. The province, for example, offers abundant resources for cost-effective hydrogen production, as well as a complete industrial chain from upstream manufacture to downstream use and high market demand.
Datong, a city in northern Shanxi, is one of the province’s first to create a full hydrogen supply chain.
Datong is the first city in Shanxi to put a fleet of hydrogen-fuel-cell buses into operation, according to Liu Hongwen, deputy chief of the Datong department of industry and information technology. A number of hydrogen-producing units and filling stations service the fleet of 100 buses.
Hydrogen is largely produced in Datong using the water electrolysis method.
“Water is the purest resource for producing hydrogen,” Liu explained, “but the production process necessitates a massive amount of electricity.” “The vast capacity of solar and wind power plants in Datong can meet the high demand for electricity.”
The weather has an impact on the wind and solar power sectors, and their insecure supply to power grids is a disadvantage when it comes to long-distance transmission. “However, when power is used by local water electrolysis plants, such a problem can be solved,” Liu explained.
The official went on to say that there is enough market demand to keep the hydrogen business growing steadily.
There are around 45,000 vehicles in Datong that deliver coal and ores.
“The majority of those vehicles follow established routes from mines to railway stations,” Liu explained. “Those can be converted to HFC automobiles because hydrogen filling stations are conveniently available along the normal routes.”
In September 2020, Datong became one of the first cities in China to release its hydrogen industry development plan. Businesses involved in hydrogen production and supply, as well as hydrogen-consuming vehicle owners, will be eligible for government incentives, according to the plan.
The rapid development of the hydrogen fuel cell and HFC truck manufacturing industries in Shanxi has made it viable to replace conventional trucks with hydrogen-fueled trucks.
One of these firms is Meijin Energy Group, which is situated in Taiyuan’s Qingxu county.
Meijin’s objective, according to Yao Jincheng, vice-president of the firm, is to become China’s largest base for heavy-duty HFC truck production.
The first batch of HFC vehicles has just been released by the corporation. The 100 trucks are now being used to transport supplies and finished goods in Meijin’s Qingxu industrial park.
The major advantage of HFC vehicles, according to Yao, is the environmental benefit.
“An HFC truck can generally go more than 100,000 kilometers per year without emitting any carbon dioxide,” Yao explained. “This is in stark contrast to typical diesel vehicles, which can emit 120 metric tons of CO2 in the same amount of time.”
Yao, on the other hand, is concerned about the cost of using hydrogen as a fuel.
Meijin is also a hydrogen producer that uses coking gas as a feedstock.
According to Yao, coking gas-converted hydrogen is less expensive than water-electrolyzed hydrogen.
According to Yao, Meijin owns and operates many coal mines and coking plants, ensuring a steady supply of coking gas for hydrogen production.
“A 49-ton HFC truck consumes roughly 10 kilos of hydrogen per 100 kilometers, which translates to about 350 yuan ($55) at the current hydrogen price,” Yao said. “This is around 50 yuan more expensive than a diesel-powered truck.”
Given that HFC vehicles receive subsidies and that hydrogen prices are likely to fall more as the manufacturing scale expands, HFC trucks may become more appealing to vehicle owners in the future, according to Yao.
While coking gas-converted hydrogen has a cost advantage over water-electrolyzed hydrogen, experts say that lowering CO2 emissions during the manufacturing process is an urgent issue that must be addressed.
Recycling CO2 in the coking process for the manufacturing of chemicals and other industrial products, according to Shi Yulin, a Shanxi expert in hydrogen research, could be a solution to the problem.
“Recycled CO2 can, for example, be utilized as a refrigerant and an energy storage agent,” Shi explained. “Emission reduction is always the outcome of resource efficiency.”
The hydrogen business has a lot of room for expansion all across the world.
The hydrogen sector will reach a market scale of $2.5 trillion by 2050, according to a forecast released by the Hydrogen Council, an international group. By that time, hydrogen has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 6 billion tons and create more than 30 million jobs.
