The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that by 2050, about a quarter of the world's hydrogen will be used for international trade, including more than 100 million tons of green hydrogen and more than 50 million tons of blue hydrogen. Half of it will be transported by pipeline and half by ammonia ship. The importance of "hydrogen port" is self-evident. The port is not only a promoter of the development of hydrogen energy, but also the first beneficiary of the implementation of hydrogen energy. In recent years, major ports and enterprises at home and abroad have accelerated the deployment of "hydrogen ports". In the short term, they focus on the construction of the port's own hydrogen energy industry chain and the clean and low-carbon energy consumption. In the long run, it will also contribute to the globalization of local hydrogen energy. Trade and energy transition to pave the way.

It is understood that at this stage, a number of "hydrogen ports" have begun to take shape in China, which are located in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, Shanghai Lingang New Area, Tianjin Binhai New Area, Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province and other regions. A model demonstration area for China's hydrogen energy industry, laying a solid foundation for the future development of the hydrogen energy industry. Overseas, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in the United States, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Valencia in Spain, Yokohama in Japan, etc. are all adopting hydrogen-related technologies to reduce carbon emissions from shipping and ports, and to build energy transition. comprehensive system.

The "hydrogen port" will "bloom at multiple points" worldwide, which will open up the maritime transportation route of hydrogen energy, realize the global integration of hydrogen energy resources, and drive the "hydrogen economy" to achieve a qualitative leap. At present, these domestic and foreign "hydrogen ports" are playing an important role in three aspects: first, to form a hydrogen energy industry demonstration zone to drive the development of the local hydrogen energy industry chain; second, to provide hydrogen fuel for shipping to help it achieve decarbonization ; Third, as a key hub for the import and export of hydrogen energy, it will drive the global application of hydrogen energy.

"Hydrogen Port" has become a demonstration model area to drive the development of local "hydrogen economy"

Ports are the main transportation hubs for global trade, and the currently used operating machines, such as cranes, trucks, and material handlers, are still dominated by fossil energy, which has a greater impact on the environment. "Hydrogen Port" is not only a transit place for hydrogen energy-related goods, but also a demonstration area for the best application of hydrogen energy, which plays an important role in the low-carbon and clean transformation of the port. At present, Chinese ports occupy an important position in the world, and the port cargo throughput and container throughput both rank first in the world. As hydrogen energy was first written into the national "Government Work Report" in 2019, major ports are also actively promoting the application of hydrogen energy technology in ports.

Taking Qingdao, Shandong as an example, the "Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industry Development Plan (2020-2030)" proposes to promote the construction of hydrogen energy ports and other demonstration forms of hydrogen energy development, so as to drive the comprehensive development of the industry through demonstration. Carry out demonstration applications of fuel cell port machinery and logistics transportation in Qingdao Port to build China's "hydrogen port".

At present, Qingdao Port has independently developed the world's first "hydrogen-powered" automated rail crane and other "black technologies", which solve the world's problems such as one-key anchoring, sustainable charging, automatic unlocking, and AGV lightweighting, and increase the operating efficiency by 30%. Reduce staff by more than 50%.

In the future, major ports in Shandong will implement the requirements of the "14th Five-Year Plan for Green and Low-Carbon Ports of Shandong Port Group", carry out in-depth cooperation with relevant partners on the use of new energy in ports and related logistics links, and gradually replace them with clean energy vehicles. The port's existing fuel vehicles, promote the pilot work of new energy vehicles in long-distance transportation, and promote the gradual replacement of clean energy vehicles by long-distance logistics companies that are connected to port operations. The total scale is expected to reach 70,000 to 100,000 vehicles.

In addition to Qingdao Port, Tianjin Port, Shenzhen Yantian Port, Dalian Taiping Bay, etc. have successively planned the development goals of building hydrogen energy ports in 2021. Professor Shi Yichen from the International Institute of Green Finance of the Central University of Finance and Economics said that in recent years, China has attached great importance to the construction of smart ports and green ports. It is an inevitable trend for the future development of China's port industry to promote port transformation and upgrading through "green" leadership and "wisdom" drive. The "hydrogen port" will also play a leading role in the construction of a green port.

'Hydrogen port' helps shipping decarbonise ammonia or methanol as excess fuel

According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the global shipping industry's share of carbon dioxide emissions in global carbon dioxide emissions rose from 2.76% in 2012 to 2.89% in 2018. If left unchecked, CO2 emissions from maritime transport could increase by 250% by 2050 from 2012 levels. To this end, the International Maritime Organization set a carbon reduction target for the global shipping industry in 2018: a 40% reduction from 2008 by 2030; and at least a 50% reduction from 2008 by 2050. The EU also clearly requires that shipping companies reduce the average annual carbon dioxide emissions per unit of transportation activities of all ships by at least 40% by 2030; by 2030, ship berths must achieve zero emissions.

In order to achieve the 2050 decarbonization target in the shipping industry, the current global consensus is to replace the fossil fuels with higher carbon content used by ships with alternative fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia or methanol. It is understood that hydrogen fuel is currently mainly concentrated in short-distance transportation such as offshore and inland waterway transportation in emission control areas, as well as for auxiliary engines, non-propulsion loads, and currently available for ocean-going ships. There are fewer fuel terminals. At present, other carriers of hydrogen that can be quickly applied are ammonia or green methanol made from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

In the past two years, the global shipping giants Maersk, X-press Feeders and other companies have actively ordered green methanol fuel ships and deployed them to the Nordic region; Sweden's Gothenburg Port has actively deployed the methanol fuel industry chain, and recently released a general ship-to-ship methanol fueling system. The operating rules, which aim to become the main fuel supply center for green methanol in northern Europe, are expected to reduce carbon emissions from ships in the port area by 70% by 2030. With the gradual improvement of the "hydrogen port" construction and the gradual maturity of the hydrogen energy industry chain, hydrogen energy is expected to become one of the main energy sources for the shipping industry.

A world-class "hydrogen port" takes shape to drive the development of the global "hydrogen economy"

"Hydrogen energy trading and natural gas trading are somewhat similar, and their trading centers are generally divided into two, one is an infrastructure center, which is used for actual product delivery, and the other is a trade settlement financial center." ADB Climate Change and Sustainable Development Bureau Energy Expert Xu Xu Jin Miao said that the location of infrastructure hubs and centers is very important. First, it should be built in the center of the market to facilitate physical delivery between buyers and sellers. Second, not any country or city can easily set up a hydrogen energy trading infrastructure center because of its large investment and high demand for infrastructure.

At present, Europe has invested heavily in the construction of "hydrogen ports". In order to reduce its dependence on Russian natural gas, the EU is urgently seeking new energy sources as supplements. Last week, the EU and 20 companies signed a joint declaration to increase electrolyzer manufacturing capacity by 10 times to 17.5GW by 2025, and to further increase capacity by 2030, to 10 million tons by 2030, based on demand for green hydrogen /year of production. Rotterdam, Europe's largest port, also said that it will supply 4.6 million tons of hydrogen to Europe in 2030, mainly from more than 70 companies and exporters in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority released a plan in 2020 and decided to build Rotterdam into a world-class "hydrogen port". Currently, it is actively conducting global cooperation to introduce a large-scale hydrogen network in the port, making Rotterdam a hydrogen production, import, application and export to Northwest Europe. An international hub for transportation to other countries. The local Maasvlakte electrolysis plant is currently in operation, and Rotterdam will soon be able to produce about 2 million tons of hydrogen, while a large hydrogen demand gap needs to be imported from countries with rich solar or wind resources such as Australia, Africa and South America.

As the world-class "hydrogen port" is gradually put into use, the "hydrogen economy" will also accelerate globally. The International Renewable Energy Agency also mentioned that Chile, North Africa and Spain will account for three-quarters of the hydrogen trade by pipeline, and Morocco, Australia and the United States will account for three-quarters of the global ammonia trade market. The UK, Russia, China, India, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South Africa will all export ammonia, while countries such as Japan and South Korea that are not rich in renewable energy will import almost all the hydrogen or ammonia they need. Editor / Xu Shengpeng