The China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has officially started what the company says is the largest solar-to-hydrogen project in the world and the 1st of its kind in China, to produce 20,000 tons/annum green hydrogen.
"With an annual hydrogen production and utilization capacity exceeding 4.5 million tons, Sinopec's self-developed megawatt-scale PEM electrolysis hydrogen production station has entered operation, and its first hydrogen demonstration project in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is expected to produce 30,000 metric tons of hydrogen a year, has been launched in 2023," it announced.
A solar power plant of undefined capacity is used by this project to electrolyze water. It has also has the capacity to store 210,000 cubic meters of hydrogen and transport 28,000 cubic meters/hour.
Green hydrogen produced is for Sinopec's Tahe Refining & Chemical plant to replace fossil-fuel generated electricity for hydrogen production with this renewable energy produced alternative. The company expects to reduce 485,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually with this change.
Sinopec has begun operations of the facility in Kuqa city of Aksu Prefecture in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The company says the Green Hydrogen Pilot Project is a demonstration project for green hydrogen refining and is aimed to become an 'exemplary model' for the production of this green fuel in China.
The company announced plans for a PV-hydrogen project in 2021 as it aims for carbon neutrality (see China PV News Snippets: Chint, Sinopec, Zhonghuan).
China already holds the distinction of being the world's largest solar PV market, both in terms of installed power generation as well as manufacturing capacity. It now aims to produce up to 200,000 tons/year of green hydrogen by 2025.