(PRNewswire)—China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) completed the construction of the Sinopec Xinjiang Kuqa green H₂ pilot project, China's largest photovoltaic green H₂ production project. It is put into operation to produce 20,000 tpy of green H₂ at full capacity, a significant breakthrough in China's scaled industrial applications of green H₂.

The green H₂ produced by the project will supply to Sinopec Tahe Petrochemical to replace the existing natural gas and fossil energy used in H₂ production, realizing the low-carbon development of modern oil processing and green H₂ coupling.

The project is China's first large-scale utilization of photovoltaic power generation to produce green H₂ directly. Utilizing the abundant solar resources in Xinjiang, the project has an electrolyzed water H₂ plant with a capacity of 20,000 tpy, a spherical H₂ storage tank with a H₂ storage capacity of 210,000 sm³, and H₂ transmission pipelines with a capacity of 28,000 sm³h. The project, as the first scaled application of green H₂ refining, is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions by approximately 485,000 tpy. Sinopec has tackled multiple bottlenecks, including flexible H₂ production under the scenario of new energy power fluctuation, and achieved localization of major equipment and core materials.

With a focus on H₂ transportation and green H₂ refining, Sinopec is accelerating its H₂ development with the establishment of more than 100 H₂ refueling stations, owning and operating the largest number of H₂ refueling stations in the world to date.

In the field of green H₂ refining, Sinopec has been vigorously advancing centralized wind power and photovoltaic development, laying out mega-scale projects integrating renewable energy power generation, H₂ production, storage and utilization.

In addition to the project, Sinopec's green H₂ project in Ordos, which will produce 30,000 tpy began construction in February 2023, while the Ulanqab project is now in the planning stage. Toward the dual-carbon goals, Sinopec is committed to reducing carbon emissions and continually supporting and promoting green, low-carbon development.