We have an interesting mix of news updates to share with you on China’s clean energy industry this week. Some of the highlights in our point of view:
- Wind: China’s first floating offshore turbine, developed by China Three Gorges and Mingyang, is on track to connect; Siemens Gamesa revealed the plan to end China’s onshore market in an interview with German media.
- Hydrogen: Guangdong and Shanghai-led city alliances are officially confirmed to be winners of the long-waited national fuel cell vehicle (FCV) demonstration project. LONGi purchases 100MW electrolysis equipment while Sinopec announces to invest ¥30b in the hydrogen energy industry.
- Net-Zero: CNOOC announced a flagship offshore CCS project, setting the trend.
Scroll down to check out the 9 updates that we considered noteworthy last week.
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Net Zero
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced yesterday, August 30, that it has launched the country’s first offshore storage project as part of an oil field located approximately 118 miles southeast of Hong Kong in the South China Sea. China has previously experimented primarily onshore exploring the potential for CCS.
CNOOC expects to extract and store up to 300,000 tons of CO2 annually from its Enping 15-1 oilfield with a total of 1.46 million tons of CO2 during the project’s lifetime. The CO2 will be injected into seabed reservoirs.
While the CNOOC project is the first to launch in China, other major Chinese oil companies are also actively pursuing CCS technology. Sinopec is also planning a CCS element for one of its new large projects in eastern China.
Energy Iceberg Note: we observe that the three NOCs have been speeding up their CCUS moves since China’s net-zero commitment.
Renewable
China’s First Floating Offshore Wind Turbine on Track to Start Operation by the end of This Year
China’s Orient Cable (NBO) last week has completed a dynamic subsea cable project on an EPCI basis for the world’s first pilot anti-typhoon floating wind turbine at the China Three Gorges (CTG) 400 MW Yangxi Shapa III offshore wind farm with a water depth of 28 to 32 meters, and 30 km away from the shore.
The commissioning test on the Ming Yang 5.5 MW floating wind turbine was completed earlier this year and the unit is now ready to be connected to the wind farm in October.
New Policy Sets Stage of a Massive Retrofitting Windpower Market
The Development and Reform Commission of Ningxia Autonomous Region last week published a new policy to launch a pilot scheme for the renewal of old wind farms in the region. The pilot targets wind projects that with:
- turbines of 1.5 MW capacity (single unit) and below
- Low utilization time for years.
- Potential safety hazards.
The policy requires targeted projects to update and increase the turbine capacity to 3MW and above, and the annual equivalent utilization hours shall reach +2,000 hours.
This is the first local pilot after the National Energy Administration proposed to kick off the technological transformation and upgrade old wind power projects earlier this year. This pilot signifies that a new wave of wind power technological transformation has begun.
Reuters: Siemens Gamesa to end China onshore sales, raise wind turbines prices 3-5%
Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa will end its onshore sales operations in China and raise turbine prices by 3%-5% in response to rising raw material prices, the company’s Chief Executive told WirtschaftsWoche magazine.
Hydrogen & Fuel Cells
The Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission last week officially confirmed to be selected among the first batch of the national fuel cell vehicle (FCV) demonstration city alliances.
Leading by Foshan, the alliance will collaborate with cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Yangjiang, Yunfu, Fuzhou, Zibo, Baotou and Lu’an. Among them,
- Foshan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zibo, Lu’an and Baotou will serve as fuel cell technology innovation bases.
- Dongguan, Zhongshan, and Yunfu will provide R&D and manufacturing of key fuel cell materials.
- Zhuhai, Yangjiang, Fuzhou, and Baotou will serve as hydrogen source supply bases.
The goal of the city alliance is to achieve:
- The cost of hydrogen gas is lower than ¥35/kg.
- Promoting more than 10,000 FCVs during the demonstration period.
Shanghai as one of the National FCV Application Demonstration City Alliance
Meanwhile, the city alliance led by Shanghai also enlisted among the first batch of the national fuel cell vehicle (FCV) demonstration city alliances.
The city alliance will unite 6 cities (regions) including Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province, Nantong City, Jiaxing City in Zhejiang Province, Zibo City in Shandong Province, the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Base in Ningxia, and Ordos City in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to form a “1+6” city alliance.
The alliance aims to, during the demonstration period:
- Construct about 100 hydrogen refuelling stations
- Form an FCV industry with an output value of ¥100b.
- Promote about 10,000 FCVs.
Major 100MW Eletrocyzer Purchase Deal Inked by LONGi
LONGi Green Energy Technology (LONGi), the world-leading solar technology company and CNCEC Hualu Engineering & Technology last week signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to purchase 100MW hydrogen electrolyzer equipment from the latter..
Energy Iceberg’s Note: LONGi has secured 10 hydrogen energy-related projects since it set up a hydrogen business unit this April. See our short summary here.
Sinopec to Build 100 Refuelling Stations this year, and spend ¥30b on Hydrogen by 2025
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), Asia’s biggest oil refiner announced last week that it plans to become China’s largest company to produce hydrogen for use as a transportation fuel, targeting an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes of hydrogen refuelling by 2025.
Ma Yongsheng, the company’s acting Chairman said that Sinopec would spend ¥30b on constructing 1000 hydrogen refuelling stations 14th Five-Year Plan period, 100 of them will be developed throughout this year.
“Sinopec will expand forcefully into making hydrogen from renewable energy, and zero in on hydrogen for transportation fuel and using green hydrogen for refining,” Ma said.
Meanwhile, Sinopec, Tianjin Petroleum Branch of Sinopec Sales, and Qingcheng (Shanghai) Internet of Things Technology last week established a joint venture to develop hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and to construct and operate hydrogen refuelling stations.
Energy Storage & Battery
Energy Storage Confirmed an Electricity Market Entity
The National Energy Administration (NEA) last week published two policy drafts on regulating grid-connected entities and auxiliary services of the power system.
These measures proposed, for the first time, that new energy storage projects shall also be treated as the main components of the electricity market. The new policies specify the range of power auxiliary service providers, including
- Thermal power, hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, photovoltaic power, pumped storage, and new energy storage, etc.
- On-grid units such as load regulating.