Over 30 hydrogen filling stations, almost 1,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles providing the bulk of the transportation, and a hydrogen-fuelled Olympic torch. The widespread use of hydrogen at the 2022 Winter Olympics was designed to spur development of the sector in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, shortly after the Games ended, the central government issued its first medium- to long-term plan<\/a> for the hydrogen sector, for the period up to 2035. The document put particular emphasis on the short-term use of \u201cby-product hydrogen\u201d, which is extracted from industrial waste gases rich in the element, by pressure swing adsorption or other techniques. Such hydrogen is to be given priority in parts of the country where coking, chlorine production and propane dehydrogenation is concentrated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The plan set a target for 2025: having an initial hydrogen economy running, relying on local sources of by-product and renewable hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The top-level policy design has prompted over 30 provincial administrations to produce their own plans and policy for hydrogen power. Shandong, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia have all said they will make use of local by-product hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such hydrogen is cheap and can help spur development of local hydrogen economies. But experts warn that China\u2019s targets of peaking carbon before 2030 and reaching net zero by 2060 mean this cannot be the approach. There will have to be a rapid switch to renewable hydrogen, and so over-investment should be avoided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using hydrogen power produces water but no carbon, making it clean and renewable. But manufacturing the gas is not necessarily carbon free. Hydrogen has various names depending on the carbon emissions incurred during its production. That produced from fossil fuels is known as grey hydrogen. When combined with carbon capture and storage (CSS), grey hydrogen becomes blue hydrogen. And when the gas is produced by renewable energy-powered electrolysis of water, it is known as green hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China is the world\u2019s biggest producer of hydrogen. Its output of 33 million tonnes a year is over one-third of the global total. Globally<\/a>, 60% of all hydrogen is sourced from natural gas, 19% from coal, and 21% from industrial processes where hydrogen is a by-product. In China, coal is still the main source<\/a> of the gas. It accounts for 62% of the country\u2019s hydrogen output. Natural gas provides 19%, by-product hydrogen 18%, and electrolysis only 1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So hydrogen supplies both at home and overseas are not yet green enough. Cost and technology are the problem. According to a report<\/a> from the Energy Transitions Commission, a kilogram of grey hydrogen costs between US$0.70 and $2.20, depending on the cost of natural gas and coal locally. Adding CCS technology for blue hydrogen is naturally more expensive again. The cleanest of all, green hydrogen, costs $3\u20135 a kilogram.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIs hydrogen power green enough?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n