Chinese power conglomerate Shanghai Electric has launched phase two of its Taonan wind-powered green hydrogen-based biomethanol plant in Jilin, targeting scale-up to 200,000 tonnes per year.
The new phase will build on the facility’s current operational capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year, while also adding 10,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel.
The Taonan plant began producing green biomethanol by gasifying agricultural biomass into syngas and combining it with green hydrogen produced through electrolysis powered by 67.2 MW of wind power in July 2025.
Conditioned syngas is then catalytically synthesised into crude methanol and refined into finished green methanol with expanding uses including marine fuels, chemical feedstocks and plastics production.
Shanghai Electric did not specify whether the new phase would build any additional renewable power assets.
It gets underway shortly after Shanghai Electric contributed 8,000 tonnes of biomethanol from the plant for a large-scale bunkering operation at Shanghai Yangshan Port.
The bunkering saw Electric Shanghai, alongside regional partners, establish a “green fuel transportation corridor,” in which fuel from Taonan is transported through Liaoning to Dalian Port, where it is stored.
H2 View understands it is then shipped via the Yellow Sea in specialised bunkering vessels to Shanghai, where bunkering takes place. Shanghai Electric has been contacted for confirmation.
Methanol produced from renewable biomass or green hydrogen pathways is viewed as a future low-carbon shipping fuel. However, renewable methanol pathways still face cost challenges linked to feedstock availability, hydrogen requirements, and carbon sourcing.
Shipping firms continue to pursue decarbonisation with maritime organisations eyeing carbon penalties. In the EU, ships over 5,000 tonnes now face carbon pricing, and the International Maritime Organisation is lining up global carbon levies despite delays to the framework.
In May, shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd signed a letter of intent exploring biomethanol offtake from a planned $1.4bn facility in Louisiana, US.
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