China Ramps Up Green Hydrogen With Support From New 5-Year Plan
(Bloomberg) -- China is ramping up green hydrogen capacity after Beijing signaled its continued support for a sector that has struggled, despite its central role in decarbonizing emissions-heavy industries.
A unit of China Coal Energy Co. on Friday received approval from Inner Mongolia’s regulator to build a 5.2 billion yuan ($730 million) project to produce about 90,000 tons of green hydrogen a year, according to local media. Last month, officials in Hebei broke ground on a 1,000-kilometer pipeline, costing 13.5 billion yuan, that will send over 1.5 million tons a year of the fuel from the clean energy hub of Zhangjiakou to the steelmaking city of Tangshan.
The developments are arriving as Chinese interest surges in the technology, which uses electricity from renewables to deliver hydrogen from water. The success of the sector is viewed as critical to cleaning up industries like steel and chemicals. But it’s struggled to gain footing in much of the world because of stubbornly high costs, with energy majors such as BP Plc withdrawing from multibillion-dollar projects in Australia and elsewhere.
China’s government has remained supportive, though. It has backed the tech with several pilot projects this year, and last month opened the sector to carbon credits to help with funding. Beijing has also singled out hydrogen energy as one of the sectors it plans to support in its next five-year plan covering 2026-2030.
Chinese energy firms have responded by launching more than 500 hydrogen projects in 2025 alone, totaling 221 billion yuan in investment and utilizing nearly 18 gigawatts of power, according to a report this month from industry publication Qingnenghui.
Demand is still lagging the acceleration in investment, however. From the 44,000 tons of hydrogen production brought online last year, output only rose by 11,000 tons, indicating that many projects are operating at only a fraction of their full capacity, according to BloombergNEF.
Still, BNEF expects green hydrogen capacity in China to reach 1.2 million tons by 2030, up from 125,000 tons at the end of 2024, driven by demand for green fuels and power for the oil refining and coal-to-chemicals industries.
On the Wire
Chinese investors hunting for the next artificial intelligence winners are looking beyond high-flying chipmakers to the utilities and metal producers that form the industry’s physical backbone.
Investors are piling into the stocks of China’s lithium battery makers and their suppliers. The nation’s clean-energy capacity is seen as a clear edge over the US in building up artificial-intelligence capability.
China’s team at the COP30 summit said trade rules and restrictions, including US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and measures adopted by the EU, are undermining global efforts to limit warming and weakening climate ambition.
China’s collapsing investment is as unprecedented as it is hard to explain.
This Week’s Diary
(All times Beijing)
Monday, Nov. 17:
- Tongwei’s annual solar conference in Chengdu, day 2
Tuesday, Nov. 18:
- China’s 2nd batch of October trade data
- Grains, sugar, cotton, palm oil, pork & beef imports
- Oil products imports & exports breakdown; LNG & pipeline gas imports
- Bauxite, steel and aluminum imports; rare-earth product, alumina and copper exports
- China Electricity Council’s EP Shanghai conference, day 1
- Mysteel Ferrous Value Chain Summit in Xiamen, day 1
- Tongwei’s annual solar conference in Chengdu, day 3
Wednesday, Nov. 19:
- CCTD’s weekly online briefing on Chinese coal, 15:00
- CSIA’s weekly polysilicon price assessment
- China Electricity Council’s EP Shanghai conference, day 2
- Mysteel Ferrous Value Chain Summit in Xiamen, day 2
- Tongwei’s annual solar conference in Chengdu, day 4
Thursday, Nov. 20:
- China sets monthly Loan Prime Rates, 9:00
- China’s 3rd batch of Oct. trade data, including country breakdowns for energy and commodities
- CSIA’s weekly solar wafer price assessment
- Green shipping fuel conference in Shanghai
- China Global Think Tank Innovation Forum in Beijing
- China Electricity Council’s EP Shanghai conference, day 3
- Mysteel Ferrous Value Chain Summit in Xiamen, day 3
- Tongwei’s annual solar conference in Chengdu, day 5
Friday, Nov. 21:
- China’s weekly iron ore port stockpiles
- SHFE’s weekly commodities inventory, ~15:30
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