Where is the cutting-edge emerging hydrogen energy?

This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to "accelerate the development of cutting-edge emerging hydrogen energy, new materials, innovative drugs and other industries", which is the first time that hydrogen energy has been written into the "Government Work Report" as a cutting-edge emerging industry. Hydrogen is at the top of the periodic table, is the most widely distributed substance in the universe, is regarded as an important energy carrier, and is the development direction of strategic energy. More than 100 years ago, human beings began to try to use hydrogen energy, and China also launched the research and demonstration of hydrogen fuel cell technology earlier, and initially established a hydrogen energy industry chain. What is the significance of putting forward the concept of "frontier emerging hydrogen energy" at this stage?

From the perspective of energy nature, hydrogen energy is a secondary energy source with abundant sources, green and low-carbon, and widely used, which is of great significance for reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and achieving the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. From the perspective of resource endowment, China's installed capacity of renewable energy ranks first in the world, and it has great potential in the supply of clean and low-carbon hydrogen energy. From the perspective of industrial development, the hydrogen energy industry is technology-intensive, covers a wide range of areas, and has strong driving benefits, and some major developed countries and economies have regarded hydrogen energy as an important strategic choice for energy transition. Continuing to increase investment, strengthen layout, and seize the commanding heights of the development of the hydrogen energy industry will inject new momentum into the high-quality development of China's economy.

To enhance the core competitiveness of the hydrogen energy industry, the key is to make efforts from the "four new".

New sources of hydrogen. Solving the problem of where hydrogen comes from is the basis for the development of the hydrogen energy industry, and not adding new carbon emissions is the premise for the development of the hydrogen energy industry. Hydrogen itself is not new, it has long been used in the chemical industry and is large-scale. However, at present, the vast majority of hydrogen is converted from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, and a large amount of carbon emissions are generated during the production process. In the long run, the scale of green hydrogen production from renewable energy has greater potential, which is cleaner and more sustainable, but at present, green hydrogen accounts for only 1% in China. The core of green hydrogen substitution lies in reductionLow systemTo prepare for costs, it is necessary to give priority to the layout of hydrogen production projects in areas with abundant wind and solar resources, accelerate the improvement of the conversion efficiency of renewable energy hydrogen production and the scale of hydrogen production by a single device, improve the adaptability of hydrogen production equipment to new energy, and promote the research and development of technologies such as solid oxide water electrolysis hydrogen production, photolysis water hydrogen production, seawater hydrogen production, and nuclear hydrogen production.

New storage and transportation methods. The western region of China is rich in wind and solar resources, which is suitable for the construction of large-scale low-cost hydrogen production bases, but the demand for hydrogen energy is more concentrated in the central and eastern regions, and the realization of large-scale and efficient storage and transportation is the key to the popularization of green hydrogen. At this stage, China is mainly transported by high-pressure gaseous long-tube trailers, with a single vehicle carrying capacity of about 300 kg of hydrogen and an economic transportation radius of no more than 500 kilometers, resulting in a relatively high storage and transportation cost in the terminal price of hydrogen. The hydrogen energy industry chain is highly similar to natural gas, and the large-scale hydrogen energy circulation in the future can adopt the "liquid hydrogen tanker + pipeline long-distance transportation" model. Liquid hydrogen requires a smaller volume than ordinary gaseous hydrogen, which can greatly reduce the storage site and transportation cost, and it is necessary to actively promote the large-scale development of low-temperature liquid hydrogen storage and transportation.

App mode new. Without the main application scenarios, it is difficult to form an industrial scale, and there is no way to talk about economics and commercialization. Judging from the current planning and actual development of various places, the application of hydrogen energy is highly concentrated in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which is too simple. The slow progress of the promotion of fuel cell vehicles has also affected the confidence in the development of the industry to a certain extent. In fact, the hydrogen energy application market has huge potential, and it has broad development prospects in energy, transportation, industry, construction and other fields. It is necessary to focus on promoting the application of hydrogen fuel cells for medium and heavy-duty vehicles, explore the demonstration application of hydrogen fuel cells in ships, aviation and other fields, give full play to the advantages of hydrogen energy long-term and large-capacity energy storage, explore and cultivate a new integrated application model of "wind, solar, hydropower + hydrogen energy storage", explore and carry out the demonstration of hydrogen production from renewable energy in synthetic ammonia, methanol, refining and other industries, and create a diverse form of hydrogen energy consumption ecology.

New technical equipment. If an industry cannot master the core technology and equipment, it will be easy to be controlled by others after large-scale development. At present, China's hydrogen energy industry is in the early stage of development, and compared with the international advanced level, there are still problems such as weak industrial innovation ability, low level of technical equipment, and dependence on imports of some key core components and basic materials. We must focus on the major needs of the high-quality development of the hydrogen energy industry, focus on the weaknesses of the short board, continue to strengthen basic research, key technologies and disruptive technological innovation, appropriately deploy a number of key core technology breakthrough projects in advance, focus on breakthroughs in large-scale hydrogen liquefaction, advanced fuel cells, and new high-efficiency electrolyzer technologies, and accelerate the innovation of materials such as proton exchange membranes and catalysts. Only by continuously breaking through key core technologies and iteratively upgrading them in market applications can we maintain the safety and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Since the beginning of this year, there has been continuous policy support information around hydrogen energy, many places have actively promoted the development of the hydrogen energy industry, major projects have been implemented, and major breakthroughs have been made in policy efforts, and the "new" content of the hydrogen energy industry is expected to continue to increase.