Sinopec’s green hydrogen plant starts production

China’s Sinopec has begun producing green hydrogen at a plant in Kuqa city in Xinjiang.

The plant – Sinopec’s first green hydrogen facility – has the capacity to produce 20,000 metric tonnes of hydrogen per year, using solar power to electrolyse water.

China and other countries are racing to develop green hydrogen – produced using renewable power to split water into hydrogen and oxygen – as a crucial source of fuel with no carbon emissions to help limit climate change.

China’s state planner last year announced a target to produce 100,000 to 200,000 metric tonnes of green hydrogen a year by 2025.

Sinopec’s facility, along with its production capacity, has hydrogen storage capacity of 210,000 cubic metres and transmission capacity of 28,000 cubic metres per hour.

Hydrogen produced at the facility will be supplied to Sinopec’s Tahe refinery to replace hydrogen produced from natural gas.

Sinopec began construction of the plant in November 2021, with an initial investment of around 3 billion yuan (US$414 million).