Colossal New 20 MW Electrolyzer Plant to Cater Green Hydrogen Supplies to China’s Transport Sector

Shell (China) has launched operations at its newly commissioned green hydrogen facility at Zhangjiakou, constructed within a span of 13 months under a joint venture with Zhangjiakou City Transport Construction Investment Holding Group Co. Ltd China. The facility boasts a giant 20 MW Electrolyzer that will be dedicated to supplying a copious amount of green hydrogen to power fuel-cell vehicles at the Zhangjiakou zone during the Winter Olympics which is scheduled to commence on February 4th.

The project, which is one of the largest in Shell’s green energy portfolio, has been designed to harness onshore wind power to draw energy for carrying out an electrochemical water-splitting reaction that will result in giving out hydrogen in sufficient volumes to fuel more than 600 vehicles at the competition site. Post-Winter Olympics the project will be powering the local transportation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region which shall get further strengthened in time with the scaling up of the electrolyzer to 60MW planned for completion within 2 years.

As per ChemAnalyst, hydrogen with its potential to release negligible carbon emissions on combustion has garnered huge favours from the environmentalists and governments of major economies alike. Owing to its popularity and increasing demand in the fast-growing mobility market, the global market size of hydrogen is anticipated to increase at a healthy CAGR of over 6% in the coming five years, hence providing huge opportunities for companies indulging in green hydrogen production. The positioning of Shell’s new facility in China has been planned keeping in view the optimism in production, supply chain and storage feasibilities in the region. The commencement of the new green hydrogen production plant is expected to improve hydrogen supplies to a significant extent, thereby bringing hydrogen prices under affordable limits. The current project also falls in line with the China’s policing to limit carbon emissions to keep the skies clear at the time of the Olympics, for which many petrochemical production units are already under the radar.