On November 30, 2021, it was learned from China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation that its Xinjiang Kuqa Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project has officially started construction. This is the country's first 10,000-ton-level photovoltaic green hydrogen demonstration project, the first large-scale use of photovoltaic power generation to directly produce hydrogen in China, and the largest photovoltaic green hydrogen production project under construction in the world.

The project has a total investment of nearly 3 billion yuan and is expected to be completed and put into operation in June 2023. After it is put into operation, the annual output of green hydrogen will be 20,000 tons. The above-mentioned projects mainly include five major parts: photovoltaic power generation, power transmission and transformation, hydrogen production by electrolysis of water, hydrogen storage, and hydrogen transmission. The project will build a new photovoltaic power station with an installed capacity of 300 MW and an average annual power generation of 618 million kilowatt-hours, an electrolyzed water hydrogen plant with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons, a hydrogen storage spherical tank with a hydrogen storage capacity of about 210,000 standard cubic meters, and a hydrogen transmission capacity. Hydrogen pipelines and supporting power transmission and transformation facilities with a capacity of 28,000 cubic meters per hour.

Sinopec said that the green hydrogen produced by the project will be supplied to Sinopec Tahe Refining and Chemical, replacing the existing natural gas fossil energy to produce hydrogen. It is estimated that 485,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced each year, which will contribute an average of 130 million yuan to the local GDP.

At the project launching ceremony, Sinopec Chairman and Party Secretary Ma Yongsheng said that the project will give full play to Xinjiang's resource advantages. It is a key project for Sinopec to build the first hydrogen energy company and a new major strategic result of enterprise-local cooperation.

The Acting Chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Erken Tuniyaz, said that Xinjiang will actively support and serve the construction of green hydrogen demonstration projects based on the strategic positioning of building China's energy "three bases and one channel". It is understood that the Xinjiang Kuche Green Hydrogen Demonstration Project has four major advantages: rich resources, green and low-carbon, large-scale applications, and technological breakthroughs. Demonstration projects of the whole process of green hydrogen production-utilization, such as transportation, green hydrogen refining and so on. The major equipment and core materials such as photovoltaic modules, electrolyzed water hydrogen production "heart" electrolyzers, hydrogen storage tanks, hydrogen pipelines and other major equipment and core materials used in the project have all realized domestic production, which is of great significance to promote the rapid development of the domestic hydrogen production equipment industry.

Sinopec is currently the largest hydrogen producer in China, producing approximately 3.9 million tons of hydrogen per year. Ma Yongsheng said that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the company will vigorously develop new energy business, and take hydrogen energy as the main direction of new energy business, and accelerate the creation of "China's No. 1 Hydrogen Energy Company." Keywords: central enterprises, engineering construction, engineering construction information

In addition to launching the above-mentioned green hydrogen demonstration projects, Sinopec has promoted a number of hydrogen energy businesses. Among them, Sinopec’s four hydrogen refueling stations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics have been officially put into operation, and a total of 38 hydrogen refueling stations have been built across the country; by 2025, it is planned to build 1,000 oil-hydrogen combined stations and 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations; the company’s first set The self-developed Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) water electrolysis hydrogen production demonstration station has been put into operation. Sinopec will also increase investment in green hydrogen energy business and is planning a batch of green hydrogen refining and chemical demonstration projects. Editor/Sang Xiaomei