Goal: Top tier in the country! Another region releases a hydrogen energy development plan

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Recently, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology issued the \"Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan for the Hydrogen Energy Industry in Sichuan Province (2025–2035)\\", aiming to have the hydrogen energy industry reach the top tier in terms of overall strength and application scale across the country by 2027. As early as 2010, Sichuan began to encourage enterprises in the province’s natural gas chemical industry to engage in forward-looking research and development in the field of high-end hydrogen energy equipment. Industrialization of this sector was launched in 2017, with special support policies introduced; as a result, Sichuan has become one of the very few provinces in China that possesses both abundant green hydrogen resources and a complete industrial chain in this area. In addition, Sichuan has diverse sources of hydrogen, including hydrogen produced from renewable energy, hydrogen generated as a by-product of industrial processes, and hydrogen derived from biomass. In particular, its abundant renewable energy resources provide strong support for the development of green hydrogen. Based on this, the plan sets out three-phase development goals for 2027, 2030, and 2035. Leveraging local resource endowments and industrial foundations, it focuses on collaborative innovation across the entire hydrogen industry chain as well as its application in various scenarios, aiming to accelerate the development of Sichuan’s hydrogen industry by strengthening related industries and promoting high-quality growth. By 2027, over 4,000 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will have been deployed across the province. 1–2 demonstration lines for hydrogen-based rail transport will be established, and more than 40 hydrogen refueling stations (including those that combine hydrogen production with refueling functions) will be built. 1–2 demonstration clusters for the industry chain related to hydrogen production from renewable sources, as well as its transportation, storage, and utilization, will be created. Additionally, over 10 application scenarios will be developed in the fields of energy storage, energy supply, and industry ； The overall application cost continues to decline, with efforts being made to bring the overall application cost of fuel cell commercial vehicles in line with that of similar fuel-powered vehicles ； Its comprehensive industrial strength and application scale rank it among the top in the country. By 2030, a new energy system featuring complementary utilization of water, wind, solar, hydrogen, natural gas and other energy sources will be initially established. By 2035, it is intended to establish key domestic hydrogen production bases, turning the area into a hub for the research, development, manufacturing, and comprehensive application of high-end hydrogen-related technologies that possesses national significance and reflects Sichuan’s unique characteristics. The plan calls for promoting the implementation of clean and low-carbon hydrogen substitution projects in industries such as steel, refining, and coal chemical processing, in order to foster the green and low-carbon development of energy-intensive sectors. Energy companies, chemical enterprises, as well as ship transportation and manufacturing firms are encouraged to work together to develop demonstration projects for green fuels such as green hydrogen-based ammonia synthesis, synthetic methanol, and sustainable aviation fuel. Efforts should be made to promote the use of large-scale wind and solar power for hydrogen production in conjunction with ammonia and alcohol production processes, as well as integrated control systems for the entire \"electricity-hydrogen-chemicals\" chain and sustainable aviation fuel production processes, thereby facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources with the chemical industry. The plan requires a scientific layout of hydrogen production facilities. Make full use of the hydropower resources in basins such as the Yalong River, Jinsha River, and Dadu River, as well as the natural scenic resources in areas like Ya’an, Panzhihua, Aba, Liangshan, and Ganzi. Vigorously promote the construction of large-scale, low-cost hydrogen production facilities through electrolysis, in order to create a green hydrogen production hub that leads in terms of scale and technology in China. In areas where industries such as coking, chlor-alkali production, propane dehydrogenation, and acetylene-based carbon production are concentrated, efforts should be made to advance large-scale projects for the purification of industrial by-product hydrogen; local utilization of this hydrogen should be encouraged in order to reduce the costs associated with its supply. Regions that have the necessary conditions are encouraged to make use of resources such as distillers’ grains and straw, food waste, and other agricultural and industrial urban waste residues, in order to explore projects for the production of hydrogen from biomass. This will help improve the efficiency of utilizing wasted biomass resources across the province and accelerate the development of a diversified network for hydrogen supply. Advance the research and development of cutting-edge hydrogen production technologies such as solid oxide electrolysis for hydrogen production, anion exchange membrane electrolysis for hydrogen production, water photolysis for hydrogen production, and high-temperature hydrogen production using nuclear energy, in order to support the development of a multi-channel supply system for green hydrogen. The plan emphasizes that for off-grid renewable energy hydrogen production projects, priority should be given to new energy sources that do not have the necessary infrastructure for power transmission. Projects for producing hydrogen from renewable energy sources are encouraged to participate in the electricity market, thereby reducing hydrogen production costs through peak shaving and valley filling. The internal power transmission and distribution works for integrated water, wind, solar, hydrogen, and storage projects are carried out by the hydrogen production companies. For such projects that require support from the public power grid, the necessary backup capacity is determined through consultations with the power grid operators, who are responsible for approving the connection plans and providing other power supply services such as grid connection. Wind and photovoltaic power generation projects that are equipped with hydrogen storage facilities for the \"electricity–hydrogen–electricity\" cycle are, in principle, considered to have equivalent new-type energy storage systems, and are managed in accordance with the current requirements for such storage systems. On the premise of implementing hydrogen energy application scenarios, support shall be provided to local authorities to exempt or reduce, in accordance with the law, costs related to the construction and operation of relevant projects.