Sinopecone of the world’s largest oil and petrochemical companies and China’s largest hydrogen producer, announced the commissioning of what it claims is the world’s largest solar-to-hydrogen project in Xinjiang, China — where sunshine is plentiful.
With a total investment of US$417 million, the Xinjiang Kuqa Green Hydrogen Pilot Project includes a 20,000-ton-per-year hydrogen electrolysis plant, a 210,000-cubic-meter capacity hydrogen storage tank farm, and a 300MW Solar power plant providing clean energy for hydrogen production.
As the world’s largest hydrogen producer and consumer, China’s demand for hydrogen is growing steadily and rapidly, which is expected to reach 35 million tons per year in 2030 and 60 million tons per year in 2050. However, the majority of production consists of “grey” hydrogen made from reforming and naphtha cracking units or gas refinery by-products.
Over the years, Sinopec has attempted to transition from producing gray hydrogen to producing green hydrogen powered by renewable energies such as solar power. The company aims to increase its green hydrogen production capacity to 500,000 tons per year.
The Xinjiang Kuqa project is expected to cut carbon emissions by 485,000 tons per year and is also considered part of Sinopec’s broader effort to peak its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.
As the cost of solar energy continues to decrease with the constant advancement of its technology, and the compelling advantages (e.g., excellent flexibility as an energy carrier, effective energy storage between medium, and high energy density) of hydrogen lead to more widespread adoption, solar and solar power drive hydrogen energy have emerged as two major growth drivers in the energy sector – and they show great potential to support each other in the larger energy transition landscape.
Several leading solar manufacturers are entering the hydrogen business. LONGi founded LONGi Hydrogen in 2021 and has leveraged its widely recognized solar technology to Research the integration of “Solar to Hydrogen”.. The company is one of the electrolyser set suppliers for this project.