Wuhan strives to form hydrogen energy industrial chain

Sinopec's hydrogen refueling station. [Photo provided to en.whkfq.gov.cn]

This year, hydrogen energy was included in the government work report as an emerging frontier industry for the first time. Twenty years ago, China's first hydrogen fuel cell car was developed in Wuhan, making it one of the earliest cities in China to start mapping out a hydrogen energy industry.

According to Pan Mu, director of the Hubei Key Laboratory of Fuel Cells at Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan has advantages in all areas of hydrogen energy, including production, storage, transportation, refueling, and utilization.

Hydrogen-refueling stations serve as the hub connecting the upstream hydrogen production, storage, and transportation with the downstream application market.

Sinopec has built two such stations at the Qianjiang and Zhijiang West service areas on the Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway, with a daily hydrogen-refueling capacity of 1,000 kilograms. Sinopec has also established a hydrogen energy equipment manufacturing base in Wuhan, dedicated to producing safe and reliable hydrogen energy equipment.

Hubei Anjie Logistics Co, which provides supply chain services for the fast-moving consumer goods industry, is one of Wuhan's first urban green freight distribution demonstration enterprises.

Currently, Anjie Logistics has deployed 30 hydrogen-powered heavy trucks, which can reduce carbon emissions by 6,570 metric tons per year, equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by nearly 400,000 trees annually.

Industry analysts believe that hydrogen energy today is similar to lithium batteries a decade ago. Once the industrial application bottlenecks are overcome, the promotion and application of hydrogen energy will accelerate rapidly.