Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 35 2021

AsiaElec HYDROGEN AsiaElec

Sinopec to invest in hydrogen to

meet carbon neutral targets

CHINA CHINA’S Sinopec aims to spend CNY30bn and social co-operation.
($4.6bn) on hydrogen by 2025 as the state com- Sinopec has built hydrogen refuelling stations
pany moves towards producing natural gas and in Guangdong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangxi and
hydrogen instead of oil as part of becoming car- more, and 10 oil-hydrogen mixing stations are
bon-neutral by 2050. now in operation.
The company, which is China’s biggest oil Sinopec said it would gradually move its
refiner, said it planned to become China’s largest hydrogen production technology from grey
hydrogen producer as well, with a focus on trans- hydrogen, using fossil fuels, to blue and green
portation fuel. It aims to have 200,000 tonnes hydrogen.
per year (tpy) of hydrogen refuelling capacity by The company aims to produce more than
2025. 1mn tonnes of green hydrogen from renewable
“Sinopec will expand forcefully into making energy sources between 2021 and 2025, as well as
hydrogen from renewable energy, and zero in on add 400 MW of solar power generation capacity
hydrogen for transportation fuel and using green for supplying electricity to charge vehicles.
hydrogen for refining,” chairman Ma Yongsheng Sinopec said in May that it would launch its
said, Reuters reported. first green hydrogen project, involving a 270-
At the end of 2020, China had 7,352 fuel cell MW solar plant and a 50-MW wind farm, in the
vehicles, while 128 hydrogen refuelling stations Inner Mongolia region in 2022.
have been built with 101 already put into oper- The new green hydrogen plant, set to be
ation, ranking second worldwide only to Japan, located in Ordos, would be able to produce
Sinopec said. 20,000 tpy through a total investment of
The company aims to have 1,000 hydrogen CNY2.6bn ($405.58mn).
refuelling stations by the end of the 14th Five China’s annual hydrogen demand will be
Year Plan in 2025. close to 60mn tonnes by 2050, which would help
Sinopec currently produces 3.5mn tpy of the country to cut 700mn tonnes from its carbon
hydrogen, the company said, which is mainly dioxide emissions, the China Hydrogen Energy
used in oil refining and petrochemical processes. Alliance said, as cited in Sinopec’s statement.
In 2020, Sinopec started to advance and acceler- As well as Sinopec, China’s other biggest
ate the construction of an integrated hydrogen NOCs – Petrochina and CNOOC – are also
energy industry chain across various fields – looking to diversify into wind and hydrogen
capital operation, technology R&D, production power, Rystad Energy recently noted.™
storage and transportation, network distribution

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 01•September•2021