Observation: Many countries have issued national strategies to promote the development of hydrogen energy industry

Hydrogen gas is clean and environmentally friendly. Major economies in the world have taken the development of hydrogen energy as an important starting point for addressing climate change and realizing low-carbon energy transformation, and have incorporated hydrogen energy into their national energy strategic plans. The commercialization of the hydrogen industry is accelerating.

Hydrogen energy is an important exploration direction in the energy revolution. According to the International Energy Agency's recent Global Hydrogen Energy Progress report, hydrogen technology has maintained a strong momentum in 2019, with a record amount of electrolytic hydrogen in operation. Thanks to the reduction of the cost of hydrogen production and the technological progress of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, the hydrogen energy industry has been paid more and more attention by more and more countries, and the development and utilization pace has been further accelerated.

Hydrogen energy is getting more and more attention

French and German leaders, business leaders and others recently held a video conference to discuss targeted measures and appropriate regulatory framework to support the development of industrial science and technology related to hydrogen energy and enhance the competitiveness of European companies in the hydrogen energy sector. France and Germany already plan to formally launch a "major European project of common interest" on hydrogen energy by the end of the year.

Up to now, major economies in the world have launched hydrogen energy development strategies and increased support to promote the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry. Statistics show that 18 economies, accounting for 70 percent of the world economy, have formulated hydrogen energy development strategies.

The EU released the EU Hydrogen Energy Strategy in July and set up the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, with a planned capacity of 40 GIGAwatts and 10 million tons of hydrogen production by 2030. Increase hydrogen's share of the energy mix to 12-14 per cent by 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality. Not long ago, the Joint Organization for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Energy in Europe published the Roadmap for Hydrogen Energy in Europe, which sets out the development plan for hydrogen energy in Europe over the next 30 years and is supported by 17 hydrogen energy companies and organizations in Europe.

South Korea, Japan and other economies have also accelerated the layout of hydrogen industry development. Last year, the South Korean government formally released its Roadmap for hydrogen economic Development, which aims to "lead the development of the global market for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and fuel cells." According to the plan, South Korea will build a production system of 100,000 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles a year by 2025. By 2040, the cumulative production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will increase to 6.2 million, hydrogen fuel cell buses to reach 40,000, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle charging stations to 1,200. The government believes that if the industrial policy on hydrogen is implemented smoothly, it could create 43 trillion won (1,134 won to the dollar) of annual added value and 420,000 jobs by 2040.

The Japanese government drew up a "hydrogen fuel cell strategic Roadmap" in 2014 and has since revised it twice. The government plans to reduce the price gap between hydrogen fuel-cell cars and hybrids to 700,000 yen (105 yen to the dollar) by around 2025. The Japanese government regards the Tokyo Olympic Games as an important opportunity to promote the realization of a hydrogen society. In addition to using hydrogen as the cauldron and fuel for the torch, a hydrogen refueling station will also be set up around the Olympic village to serve vehicles 24 hours a day during the Games. Tokyo Olympics sponsor Toyota Motor Corp. plans to offer about 500 hydrogen fuel-cell cars as official vehicles.

The pace of development has been accelerated

Driven and stimulated by the policies, the multinational hydrogen energy industry is standing in the air. By the end of 2019, a total of 470 refueling stations were in operation worldwide, an increase of more than 20 percent year-on-year. Japan led the way with 113 refuelling stations, followed by Germany, the United States and China. The global hydrogen fuel cell vehicle population stood at 25,210 at the end of 2019, the report said. That year, 12,350 vehicles were sold, more than double the 5,800 in 2018. In Asia, in particular, sales are up sharply.

Germany recently announced a further investment of 9 billion euros, including 2 billion euros for joint hydrogen production plants with international partners. Germany currently has 84 hydrogen refuelling stations and has submitted the most patents in the area of hydrogen fuel cells in Europe, with 17,238 industrial property registrations. The German government says it plans to increase the number of refuelling stations to 100 by the end of 2020. France already has 160 hydrogen projects, pau, Auxerre and other cities have opened hydrogen bus lines, Paris will have more than 600 hydrogen taxis by the end of this year.

By the end of August, Japan had opened 133 hydrogen refueling stations and launched 3,800 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Data released by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Resources of South Korea shows that from January to June this year, the export of environment-friendly cars in South Korea surged year-on-year, among which the export of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles increased 67.7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, and the export of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles increased more than four times year-on-year in June.

In addition, according to the latest statistics, from January to July 2020, the nominal total investment amount of China's hydrogen energy industry exceeded 130 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of more than 30% compared to 2019. So far, China has promoted more than 7,000 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and built more than 70 hydrogen refueling stations, gradually forming a complete industrial chain for the domestic hydrogen energy industry.

Many bottlenecks remain

It is pointed out that the hydrogen energy industry has a good prospect at present, but due to the high development cost, technical bottleneck, capital shortage and other factors, there is still a long way to go for large-scale commercialization of the related industry.

"Green hydrogen" (electrolytic hydrogen) is expensive, at 3.5-5 euros per kilogram, much higher than "grey hydrogen" (1.50 euros per kilogram), which is made from fossil fuels, according to the IEA report. In the future, "green hydrogen" market competitiveness is weak, need long-term investment support. According to conservative estimates, if the global hydrogen industry is to expand effectively and supply 24% of the world's energy needs by 2050, about $11 trillion will be needed to invest in the industry.

Philippe Esconde, an economics columnist for The French newspaper Le Monde, believes that the cost of producing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles is now much higher than that of pure electric new-energy vehicles. Eu countries, such as France and Germany, have yet to agree on standards, which will further slow the progress of related projects. "Hydrogen technology will take at least 10 years to mature, so there is still a risk for participating companies, especially smes, to have a low participation rate." "Said Esconde.

According to Joongang Ilbo of South Korea, the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry faces many constraints, such as the shortage of inflating stations, and needs to build a large number of production, storage equipment and other infrastructure. Ahn Kwok-wing, honorary President of the Korea Hydrogen and New Energy Institute, said the government should make plans to popularize hydrogen vehicles as well as make them safer, so as to increase public acceptance of hydrogen fuel.

"Countries attach great importance to developing clean energy. As a kind of green energy, hydrogen is an important development direction of low-carbon economy." Michel Delpen, a Member of the French National Assembly, is optimistic about the potential of hydrogen. "Whether it is a significant reduction in costs or a breakthrough in core technologies, it will require greater policy support and cooperation between countries," he said.