JAKARTA – China has begun to accelerate the development of the hydrogen sector. Entering the 15th Five-Year Plan period 2026-2030, the country is pushing hydrogen from a sector that has been supported by policy to become an industry targeted to grow with market power. China Daily, quoted on Thursday, March 26, reported that this step was installed to support economic transformation as well as accelerate China’s energy transition.
The impetus was seen at the 5th China International Hydrogen Congress and Expo in Beijing, Wednesday. 25 March. At the forum, hydrogen was positioned as an important link in the energy transition, especially to reduce emissions in the most difficult sectors to cut, such as steel, the chemical industry, and heavy transport.
For China, this is not a marginal project. Hydrogen is used as a tool to pursue two major goals, namely the peak of carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. Deputy Director General of the Department of Science and Technology of the National Energy Administration of China, Bian Guangqi, said the focus of this new period is to build hydrogen as a future industry and shift it from policy-driven growth to market-driven expansion.
“As we enter the 15th Five-Year Plan period, our main focus is to grow hydrogen as an important future industry, by steering it from policy-driven growth to strong and market-driven expansion,” Bian Guangqi said in his keynote speech quoted by China Daily.
The Chinese government is laying the foundation through the integration of hydrogen into national energy planning, the construction of a large base of wind-solar-hydrogen-ammonia-alcohol, acceleration of technological innovation, the drafting of standards and regulations, and the expansion of global cooperation. China is also aiming for regional independence for renewable hydrogen and low-carbon clean hydrogen.
The impetus was built on the achievements of the 14th Five-Year Plan. The Energy Law that came into force last year officially included hydrogen into the national energy management framework. This year, the Chinese Government Work Report also places hydrogen energy and green fuels as new sources of growth.
The scale is already visible. In the past five years, China’s renewable hydrogen production capacity has jumped from 23,000 tons to 250,000 tons per year, supported by major projects in Xinjiang. China has also operated more than 30,000 fuel cell vehicles and built more than 590 hydrogen filling stations. Its companies export core technologies such as electrolyzers to more than 30 countries and participate in the construction of 17 international green shipping corridors.
However, this market is still far from being full. The International Energy Agency notes that green hydrogen in 2025 still accounts for less than 1 percent of global hydrogen production. This means that a new competition is just being opened.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
(system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
