Three ministries have deployed pilot projects for the integrated application of hydrogen energy.

　　Strive to reach 100,000 fuel cell vehicles nationwide by 2030

　　Three departments deploy hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot projects

　　On March 16, it was learned that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission recently issued the "Notice on Carrying Out Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Application Pilot Work" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), proposing to select city clusters with good industrial foundations, rich application scenarios, strong hydrogen energy resource assurance capabilities, and complete industrial chains to first carry out hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilots. By 2030, city clusters will achieve large-scale application of hydrogen energy in multiple fields; the nationwide number of fuel cell vehicles will strive to reach 100,000.

　　Analysts believe that as an important part of the future national energy system, hydrogen energy is at a critical point of scaling and commercialization. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, conducting hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilots, through scenario traction, technical support, and policy support, will promote the large-scale and high-quality development of China's hydrogen energy industry, help expand green electricity applications, cultivate new economic growth drivers, and promote deep decarbonization and green transformation of traditional industries.

　　During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's hydrogen energy industry initially established a relatively complete industrial chain supply chain. It is reported that by the end of 2025, the cumulative sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China will be nearly 40,000, with 574 hydrogen refueling stations built and a hydrogen refueling capacity exceeding 360 tons/day, ranking first in the world. A batch of ten-thousand-ton green hydrogen, hundred-thousand-ton green ammonia, and million-ton hydrogen metallurgy industrialization projects have been put into production, achieving partial stable substitution of green hydrogen in the refining and coal chemical industries.

　　A responsible official from the Department of Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that China's hydrogen energy industry has achieved a breakthrough "from 0 to 1" and has entered a critical stage of crossing the technical-economic inflection point and rapid scaling. However, it should also be noted that hydrogen energy applications face issues such as few scenarios, lack of green hydrogen, high prices, and difficulties in storage and transportation, with the commercial model yet to be formed and market demand needing to be released. Continuous efforts and key support at the national level are needed to discover and solve problems through application traction.

　　In response, the "Notice" proposes that through city cluster pilots, hydrogen energy application scenarios will be expanded from fuel cell vehicles to multiple fields such as transportation and industry where conditions permit. By 2030, city clusters will achieve large-scale application of hydrogen energy in multiple fields, with the average terminal hydrogen price reduced to below 25 yuan/kg, striving to reduce it to around 15 yuan/kg in some advantageous regions; the nationwide number of fuel cell vehicles will double compared to 2025, striving to reach 100,000. By expanding application scale, promote technological, process, and equipment innovation breakthroughs in hydrogen energy applications, achieve iterative upgrades of fuel cells, electrolyzers, storage and transportation devices, and materials, and promote hydrogen energy as a new economic growth point.

　　The "Notice" clarifies that each city cluster should prioritize selecting application scenarios such as fuel cell vehicles, green ammonia, hydrogen-based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, and hydrogen blending combustion for pilot projects, actively explore innovative hydrogen energy application scenarios, and form a hydrogen energy comprehensive application ecosystem of "1 general scenario for fuel cell vehicles + N industrial field application scenarios + X innovative application scenarios."

　　Specifically, 1 general scenario for fuel cell vehicles highlights the pilot promotion of medium and heavy-duty trucks and cold chain logistics models. N industrial field large-scale application scenarios mainly include green ammonia, hydrogen-based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, and hydrogen blending combustion. X innovative hydrogen energy application scenarios include ships, aviation, rail transportation, two-wheelers, etc.

　　This will promote the expansion of hydrogen energy application scenarios from fuel cell vehicles to multiple fields such as transportation and industry where conditions permit. Zhao Weidong, director of the Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Research Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, told the Economic Information Daily reporter that in addition to fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen energy has the potential for large-scale application in fields such as hydrogen metallurgy, green hydrogen chemicals, hydrogen-based green fuels in the shipping industry, and hydrogen energy heating and power generation. For example, steel, as the industry with the largest carbon emissions, will significantly reduce carbon emissions in the future by replacing traditional coke oven steelmaking with hydrogen metallurgy. Currently, companies like HBIS Group, China Baowu, and China Iron & Steel Research Institute have hydrogen metallurgy industrialization projects in production or under construction, with hydrogen-based shaft furnace technology developing rapidly and production capacity of approximately 2 million tons/year. As an important chemical reducing agent, hydrogen energy has broad development prospects in the coal chemical and oil chemical fields.

　　According to Guojin Securities' calculation based on the unit GDP carbon reduction target in the 2026 government work report, the demand for green hydrogen in 2026 will reach 3 million tons, driving approximately 27.8 GW of electrolyzers; during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, green hydrogen demand will rise to 65 million tons, corresponding to approximately 602 GW of electrolyzers. The path of downstream applications of hydrogen energy is gradually becoming clear, with breakthroughs expected first in the transportation and chemical fields with the lowest price sensitivity, advancing along the path of "green shipping, hydrogen energy heavy trucks, chemicals, metallurgy, energy storage."

　　The "Notice" also proposes to establish and improve a safety management system to advance pilot work on a safe basis. It encourages pilot cities to actively introduce support policies and increase support for the research and development of key technical equipment in the fields of hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and use. It aims to improve the policy and institutional environment and encourages the introduction of convenient policies such as inter-city fuel cell vehicle passage.

　　Zhao Weidong stated that the next step is to adhere to "scenario-driven, system closed-loop, multi-energy complementarity, and integrated development," accelerate the research of a package of support policies that meet the development needs of the new stage of the hydrogen energy industry, lead technological breakthroughs, and expand the application market. Among them, focus can be placed on key links and prominent issues, using application scenarios to drive, technical equipment support, and commercial model exploration to lead from point to surface, using applications to drive the industry, and using large-scale multi-scenario applications to lower the cost curve. Systematically promote key technology research and promotion of the entire hydrogen "production-storage-transportation-use" chain, using technological innovation to drive cost reduction and efficiency improvement across the entire industry chain. (Reporter Guo Qian)