China’s Sinopec targets 500,000 T of ‘green’ hydrogen capacity by 2025

China’s state-controlled energy giant Sinopec aims to set up plants that can make 500,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year from renewable energy sources by 2025, a company executive said at a forum on Wednesday.

The company currently has annual hydrogen production capacity of 3.84 million tonnes, with about half coming as a by-product from its refineries and a third made from coal. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the 500,000 tonnes of ‘green’ capacity will replace some existing facilities or will be additional.

Ling Yiqun, vice president of Sinopec Group, said the company will aim to boost green hydrogen production to over 1 million tonnes cumulatively during the 2021-2025 period, and will focus on developing hydrogen as a transportation fuel and green hydrogen refining.

Sinopec has vowed to be China’s leading hydrogen company and set up 1,000 hydrogen filling stations across the country. read more

The company in late May announced its first green hydrogen project, a 20,000 tonnes per annum plant located in Inner Mongolia, is expect to launch its first phase in 2022. It also plans to build another 20,000 tonne green hydrogen plant in Xinjiang. read more

Ling also said that Sinopec will build more hydrogen transport pipelines to connect producers and downstream market. So far the company operates three pipelines with total length of just 99 kilometres.

Most of China’s hydrogen is transported by trucks, a more expensive option than operating a pipeline, reaching relatively limited markets compared with a grid of pipelines.

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