China’s first PV green hydrogen pilot plant put into production
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) completed the construction of the Sinopec Xinjiang Kuqa green hydrogen pilot project, China’s largest photovoltaic green hydrogen production project. It is put into operation to produce an annual green hydrogen of 20,000 tonnes at full capacity, a significant breakthrough in China’s scaled industrial applications of green hydrogen.
The green hydrogen produced by the project will supply to Sinopec Tahe Petrochemical to replace the existing natural gas and fossil energy used in hydrogen production, realising the low-carbon development of modern oil processing and green hydrogen coupling.
Utilising the abundant solar resources in Xinjiang, the project has an electrolysed water hydrogen plant with an annual capacity of 20,000 tonnes, a spherical hydrogen storage tank with a hydrogen storage capacity of 210,000 standard cu m, and hydrogen transmission pipelines with a capacity of 28,000 standard cu m/hour.
The project, as the first scaled application of green hydrogen refining, is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 485,000 tonnes/year. Sinopec has tackled multiple bottlenecks, including flexible hydrogen production under the scenario of new energy power fluctuation, and achieved localisation of major equipment and core materials.
With a focus on hydrogen transportation and green hydrogen refining, Sinopec is accelerating its hydrogen development with the establishment of more than 100 hydrogen refuelling stations, owning and operating the largest number of hydrogen refuelling stations in the world to date.
In the field of green hydrogen refining, Sinopec has been vigorously advancing centralized wind power and photovoltaic development, laying out mega-scale projects integrating renewable energy power generation, hydrogen production, storage, and utilisation.
In addition to the project, Sinopec’s green hydrogen project in Ordos, which will produce 30,000 tonnes/year began construction in February 2023, while the Ulanqab project is now in the planning stage.
