When the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference come to an end, two national level heavyweight documents simultaneously focus on the same track - hydrogen energy. The government work report clearly proposes the establishment of a mechanism for future industrial investment growth and the cultivation and development of strategic future industries such as energy; The outline of the 15th Five Year Plan directly lists hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy as the future industries that determine the country's core competitiveness. From the stable operation of hydrogen fuel cells at the Qinling Station in Antarctica to the just achieved breakthrough of 30 megawatt pure hydrogen gas turbines, green hydrogen is becoming the ultimate ace of China's new energy system with an irreplaceable attitude.

Green Hydrogen Cracking Two Shortcomings

Green power has two core shortcomings that cannot be solved by itself, and these two shortcomings precisely determine that the new energy system cannot form a closed loop without hydrogen. The first weakness is the inherent weakness of energy storage: green electricity is dependent on the weather, photovoltaics are available during the day and unavailable at night, and wind power generates when there is wind but stops when there is no wind. Lithium battery energy storage is only suitable for hourly peak shaving. To achieve large-scale cross seasonal and long-term energy storage at the gigawatt level, the cost is outrageously high. The second shortcoming is the blind spot of scene coverage: hydrogen is necessary for the synthesis of ammonia and methanol in the heavy chemical industry, coke is indispensable for steel blast furnace ironmaking, and the energy density of ocean shipping and cross ocean aviation batteries cannot meet the demand. These blind spots that green electricity cannot reach are precisely the home ground of green hydrogen.

The three major advantages are irreplaceable

The reason why green hydrogen is included in the future industrial core layout relies on three irreplaceable core advantages. Absolute zero carbon attribute: Using wind solar green electricity to electrolyze water and produce hydrogen, the entire process does not emit any carbon dioxide, making it a true zero carbon energy source for the entire chain. Rolling level energy storage cost: According to Academician Ouyang Minggao's calculation, the cost of fixed hydrogen storage containers is more than an order of magnitude lower than that of energy storage batteries. Similarly, for storing 1 kWh of energy, the cost of hydrogen storage is only one tenth or even lower than that of lithium batteries. Super strong industrial driving ability: The green hydrogen industry chain covers dozens of application fields such as renewable energy generation, electrolytic water hydrogen production, hydrogen storage and transportation, fuel cell systems, downstream transportation, chemical engineering, metallurgy, etc., creating a trillion dollar market scale throughout the entire chain. Keywords: Strategic News Network, Green Hydrogen Development

Three paths to connect the future

To achieve large-scale commercialization of green hydrogen, three core paths must be taken. Hydrogen production from surplus electricity: Using the surplus electricity generated by the large-scale development of wind and photovoltaic power to produce hydrogen, the cost of electricity can be almost negligible. This is the most realistic path for green hydrogen to achieve low-cost commercialization. Hydrogen electricity integration: Creating an integrated system of light storage, hydrogen storage, and electric heating, with priority given to direct use of wind and solar power generation. Excess electricity is used for hydrogen production and energy storage, and all waste heat generated from hydrogen production and hydrogen power generation is recovered and utilized. Through the full chain energy cascade utilization, the comprehensive efficiency is greatly improved. Scenario driven: The northwest wind and solar resource rich area is suitable for large-scale centralized hydrogen production. Near the coal chemical base, green hydrogen can be used as raw material to produce low-carbon chemicals. The port logistics park can take the lead in promoting the use of hydrogen energy heavy-duty trucks to create an application loop, breaking through economically viable scenarios and ultimately achieving comprehensive popularization of green hydrogen.Editor/Gao Xue