Building the hydrogen economy in China: Drivers, resources and technologies

This paper reviews drivers, resources, and technologies for building the hydrogen economy in China. China is unique in terms of its vast area, huge population and fast economic growth. These factors pose a great challenge for China to ensure a continuous and sufficient energy supply. In addition, the coal-based energy system of China inevitably results in huge CO2 emissions. Hydrogen shows the great potential in solving the concerns for improving energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen can be produced from abundant and widely distributed renewable energy resources, which implies an opportunity for China to diversify its energy supplies from a hydrogen economy. Moreover, hydrogen is the cleanest fuel especially when coupled with fuel cell. Chinese government has made ambitious policy and provides strong financial support for research and development of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. All the top-tier universities and institutes in China are conducting related research and Chinese companies express strong interest in the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technology.