This article by Warwick Powell looks at developments in terms of hydrogen in China and locates it within its energy infrastructure and global development strategies. Cheap energy = cheap hydrogen.
China has an up-to-date energy distribution system and generates twice the energy of the USA, and is the world leader in renewables..
'When hydrogen gets cheap, a lot of things will change with it'.
'Steelmaking, cement production and other heavy industries rely on high-temperature heat and reducing agents, traditionally supplied by coal or natural gas. Hydrogen can substitute for both. Cheap hydrogen makes green steel economically viable, allowing for the decarbonisation of one of the most carbon-intensive sectors of the economy. Downstream, this shifts the competitiveness of entire manufacturing ecosystems toward regions that adopt hydrogen-based industrial platforms early. Again, China is playing a globally leading hand in this arena, and some expect it to become the world’s largest producer of green steel by as early as 2030.....The intermittency of renewables - their variability over hours, days, and seasons - has always been a challenge. Batteries can smooth out short-term fluctuations, but for long-duration storage, they are expensive and resource-intensive. Hydrogen provides a chemical storage solution, turning surplus solar and wind power into storable energy that can be reconverted to electricity when needed. Cheap hydrogen thus becomes the backbone of resilient, high-renewable grids, unlocking deeper penetration of renewables without stability concerns......Domestically, China is on track to achieve its target of 100,000 to 200,000 tons of green hydrogen production by the end of 2025. Today, China accounts for 50% of global green hydrogen production capacity. The China Hydrogen Alliance projects China’s hydrogen demand to reach 35 million tons by 2030, representing at least 5% of the country’s energy supply, before increasing to 60 million tons and 10% by 2050, and 100 million tons and 20% by 2060.....The arrival of cheap hydrogen marks the start of an abundance shock in energy markets. It accelerates decarbonisation, distributes industrial capability, and redraws trade maps. It also upends the logic of energy scarcity that underpinned the last century’s geopolitics. The losers will be those who cling to a low-EROEI past; the winners will be those who embrace the high-EROEI future where electrons and molecules flow freely from the sun and wind. Hydrogen, for decades the elusive energy carrier, is about to become a central pillar of that future, as a result of the economics finally aligning with physics.'
