Hydrogen energy is a strategically important future industry targeted for development during China's 15th Five-Year Plan period. It serves as an ideal medium for promoting the clean and efficient use of traditional fossil fuels and supporting the large-scale development of renewable energy, gradually becoming a crucial vehicle for the green transition of the future energy system. The Anhui provincial government work report this year explicitly listed hydrogen energy as one of the top ten future industries, incorporating it into the province's modern industrial system framework.
By the end of 2025, Anhui had achieved breakthroughs in a batch of core technologies in areas including proton exchange membranes, alkaline electrolyzers, and solid-state hydrogen storage materials and equipment, establishing 14 provincial-level or higher innovation platforms. Alongside these technological advances, the industrial landscape is rapidly taking shape. Anhui has already gathered over 50 core enterprises across the hydrogen energy industry chain, with an industrial scale exceeding 20 billion yuan. This cluster covers the entire value chain from hydrogen production, storage and transportation, refueling, to application, and includes key enterprises such as Sungrow Hydrogen, Mingtian Hydrogen, and Hefei General Machinery Research Institute.
Sources of Hydrogen Production
At the site of the high-purity hydrogen production facility using purge gas at the Linhuan Coking Company under the Huaibei Mining Group in Anhui, orderly pipelines and precisely operating equipment are in place. Tube trailer trucks queue at the filling stations while staff conduct safety checks. "The project primarily uses surplus methanol purge gas as feedstock. After pre-treatment, hydrogen is extracted using pressure swing adsorption separation technology," explained Li Huayang, project manager at the company's Benzene Refining Branch. "The designed annual capacity is 80 million cubic meters; current output is 20 million cubic meters annually, with a purity of 99.999%." Part of the produced hydrogen is delivered directly via pipeline to downstream chemical park users, while another portion is compressed to 20.5 MPaG and sold externally through filling stations.
This purge gas-to-hydrogen project is a key initiative by Huaibei Mining Group to extend its coke oven gas industrial chain and explore new applications. Currently, Linhuan Coking Company has established a complete industrial system encompassing production, storage, transportation, and application, laying a solid foundation for future hydrogen energy industry development.
Currently, the vast majority of hydrogen originates from fossil fuels and industrial by-products. This type, known as "grey hydrogen" due to the significant CO2 emissions during its production, is primarily used in the chemical industry. The quest for cleaner hydrogen leads to water. Electrolysis of water represents the cleanest current method for hydrogen production, requiring only a power source, electrodes, and water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen. Scaling this principle leads to industrial-grade equipment like alkaline electrolyzers.
Based on this fundamental principle, companies are continuously exploring more efficient and flexible hydrogen production solutions. Sungrow Hydrogen Technology Co., Ltd. is one such enterprise. Focusing on renewable energy-powered water electrolysis technology, the company has mastered alkaline and PEM electrolysis methods and has developed a distributed off-grid hydrogen production demonstration platform, creating a replicable off-grid hydrogen solution.
Yet, efforts extend beyond this. Many companies are looking towards more abundant resources like biomass and seawater. For instance, at the Sinopec Qingdao Refining & Chemical Hydrogen Energy R&D and Refueling Demonstration Park, engineers on China's first industrialized seawater hydrogen production research project have overcome key technologies like seawater pre-treatment systems. They directly use seawater as feedstock for electrolysis, producing 20 cubic meters of green hydrogen per hour. This project has now entered a new phase of scaled green hydrogen production.
From a long-term perspective, hydrogen production involves not just technological breakthroughs but also industrial restructuring. Anhui, benefiting from multiple overlapping national development strategies, plans to vigorously develop renewable energy-powered water electrolysis for hydrogen production. It aims to promote integrated planning of wind, solar, hydrogen, and storage, steadily enhance green hydrogen production and supply capacity, and optimize the hydrogen production structure.
Applications and Distribution of Hydrogen
At the Longtang Waneng Comprehensive Energy Port in Feidong, Hefei, an 18-ton Lingniu Hydrogen fuel cell van is refueling with hydrogen. The process is completed within minutes. Operational since July 18, 2023, this energy port provides not only traditional services like refueling, CNG, EV charging/swapping, and retail but also hydrogen supply, offering one-stop comprehensive energy services for surrounding industrial plants, logistics parks, and satellite hydrogen stations.
In Anhui, multiple sites similar to the Longtang Waneng Comprehensive Energy Port offer hydrogen refueling. By the end of 2025, the province had built and operated 13 hydrogen refueling stations, deployed over 200 fuel cell buses, and achieved commercial application of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks, sanitation vehicles, logistics vehicles, forklifts, and sightseeing vehicles.
As the least dense gas in nature, hydrogen is colorless, odorless, non-toxic, highly flammable, and poorly soluble in water under standard conditions. How is its efficient and safe storage and transportation achieved? Current methods primarily include high-pressure gaseous storage/transport, cryogenic liquid storage/transport, and solid-state storage/transport. High-pressure gaseous technology is relatively mature and commercially applied but suffers from low storage density and high transportation costs. Cryogenic liquid storage offers high density and transport efficiency but involves high energy consumption and technical barriers, mainly used in aerospace. Solid-state hydrogen storage, with its high safety and density, is a key research focus, though still in the R&D and demonstration stage.
"Our company's developed magnesium-based flexible large-scale hydrogen storage and transportation system primarily utilizes the chemical reaction between magnesium and hydrogen to absorb and release hydrogen," said Li Lu, Chairman of Anhui Jimei Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd.. He likened magnesium's hydrogen storage capacity to a sponge absorbing water, stating its gravimetric and volumetric storage density far exceeds currently common methods.
If storage and transportation are key links in the chain, application is the ultimate realization of hydrogen's value. "Hydrogen fuel cell buses utilize high-power fuel cell systems and efficient wheel-side drive systems, equipped with safety measures like hydrogen leak monitoring, anti-hydrogen accumulation, and ventilation dilution, ensuring operational safety while enhancing mobility," explained Zhu He, Director of the New Energy Technology Research Institute at Ankai Bus. Currently, a full refueling enables a range of 400 kilometers with a refueling time of just 10 minutes, meeting the intensive operational demands of city buses.
Ankai Bus began researching hydrogen fuel cell bus technology and product layouts as early as 2004. Through continuous efforts, in December 2019, the first batch of Ankai 8.5-meter hydrogen fuel cell buses commenced operation in Lu'an City, marking Anhui's first hydrogen energy public transport demonstration route. Ankai has now completed the development of hydrogen fuel cell series products ranging from 8 to 12 meters, with vehicles deployed in Lu'an and Hefei.
After years of exploration, Lu'an City has been selected as part of the first national fuel cell vehicle promotion and application demonstration city cluster. Wuhu City has initiated the construction of Anhui's Hydrogen Energy Future Industry Pilot Zone, while Lu'an and Bozhou cities have planned hydrogen energy industrial parks.
The Challenge of Hydrogen Cost Competitiveness
"Currently, a hydrogen price of 25 yuan per kilogram has gained general recognition within the industry. While this price is lower than the cost of refined oil, it is higher than electricity costs, resulting in a less obvious market advantage," stated Pu Hongxia, Chairman of Lingniu New Energy Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., during a recent hydrogen energy industry development exchange seminar. The event, hosted by Anhui Natural Gas Development Company and organized by Anhui Waneng Clean Energy Company, aimed to facilitate communication among government, enterprises, research institutions, and end-users to promote hydrogen industry development.
Pu Hongxia presented a cost comparison: currently, diesel vehicles cost about 1.1-1.2 yuan per kilometer, pure electric vehicles about 0.5 yuan per kilometer, while vehicles using hydrogen priced at 25 yuan/kg cost approximately 0.7 yuan per kilometer. The difference is more pronounced in the heavy-duty truck sector, where electricity costs 1-1.5 yuan per kilometer compared to hydrogen costs reaching 2.5 yuan per kilometer, potentially affecting end-user adoption.
In response, a relevant official from the Hefei Development and Reform Commission's New Energy Department revealed at the meeting that Hefei's three-year hydrogen energy development plan is currently being formulated, covering hydrogen station construction and vehicle promotion, with the official document expected in the first half of this year.
In the view of Wu Hai, Chairman of Anhui Natural Gas Development Company, relying solely on government subsidies is not a sustainable long-term strategy; the industry's enduring development requires collaborative efforts from all parties. "We are currently in discussions with some cities regarding blending hydrogen into natural gas pipelines. If a 20% blending ratio can be achieved, it would indirectly address the cost issue of hydrogen in the transportation sector," said Zhang Lou, Manager of the Business Center at Mingtian Hydrogen.
Furthermore, hydrogen supply security also somewhat constrains the overall development of the industry. "Anhui is not a traditional hydrogen-producing region, and green hydrogen sources are limited, though some local areas have supply potential. For example, Hefei, Tongling, and Wuhu are not short of hydrogen sources, but there is a geographical mismatch between supply and demand points," noted Shi Kecheng, President of Shanghai Zhengfan Technology Co., Ltd.. The company, recognizing the business opportunity, saw the third phase of its production base in Feidong County, Hefei, commence operations in July 2024. It currently supplies hydrogen to all refueling stations in the Hefei area.
Hydrogen energy is a key development direction for strategic emerging industries and future industries. Currently, Anhui's hydrogen energy industry is accelerating its development, focusing on critical links of production, storage/transportation, refueling, and application. Adhering to principles of systematic planning, innovation-driven growth, application-led development, and safe, orderly progress, the province is advancing the high-quality, full-chain development of the hydrogen energy industry.
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