Sinopec has chosen contractors to supply equipment for the world’s largest solar-to-hydrogen project, which will be built in China’s far-flung Xinjiang province.
Cockerill Jingli Hydrogen, Longi Hydrogen, and China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s 718th Research Institute (PERIC) have been chosen to deliver 13 alkaline-based hydrogen electrolyzers under contracts worth 1.07 billion yuan (US$160 million).
The purchase is part of a project that calls for 52 electrolyzer sets, each capable of producing 1000 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour through the use of electricity and water.
The 3 billion yuan project, led by Sinopec’s New Star Xinjiang Green Hydrogen New Energy business, would include a 300-megawatt solar plant, a 20,000-tonne-per-annum hydrogen electrolysis plant, and a 210,000-cubic-metre hydrogen storage tank.
Hydrogen pipes with a capacity of 28,000 cubic meters per hour are also part of the project.
The project, which is expected to be operational in mid-2023, would feed hydrogen to Tahe Refining & Chemical to replace fossil fuels and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 485,000 tpa.
Longi, a partner, is one of China’s leading solar photovoltaic manufacturers, with an annual capacity of 500-megawatt electrolyzers. By the end of this year, it will be 1.5 GW, and by 2025, it will be 5 GW.
In the development of green hydrogen solutions, PERIC will employ ABB rectifiers, distributed control systems, energy management, sophisticated analytics, instrumentation, and telecommunication systems.
Sinopec has pledged to increase investment in green hydrogen projects as part of its ambition to reach carbon neutrality in 2050, ten years ahead of China’s 2060 objective.
The corporation wants to increase its green hydrogen production capacity to 500,000 tpa by 2025, compared to its present grey hydrogen production capacity of 3.9 million tpa from fossil fuels.
China is already the world’s leading hydrogen producer, producing roughly 20 million tpa of grey hydrogen from reforming and naphtha cracking plants, as well as leftovers from gas refineries.
