Saudi Aramco places two bets! Academician Ouyang Minggao’s team from Tsinghua University develops green hydrogen energy, driving costs down to $2/kg! Shell, TotalEnergies, and Sinopec collectively place orders.

Electricity accounts for 70% of green hydrogen’s cost, so reducing it hinges on improving conversion efficiency and enhancing adaptability to power fluctuations. Square-shaped electrolyzer design ensures more uniform distribution along the horizontal axis; combined with optimized internal flow-field design, it enables faster bubble detachment and more complete gas–liquid separation—maximizing renewable energy utilization and serving as the key breakthrough to achieving grid-parity green hydrogen. However, as an innovative pathway, market acceptance was initially low. A turning point emerged at the end of 2023, when large-scale domestic green hydrogen projects built by leading photovoltaic enterprises performed poorly in operation—revealing serious flaws in traditional cylindrical electrolyzers. It was then that the market began noticing HaiDe Hydrogen’s differentiated approach. Within the diversified applications of green hydrogen, the hydrogen production system sits at the core of the technological architecture—HaiDe Hydrogen’s next-generation HydoLyser® system functions like a ‘green energy chip,’ driving down the levelized cost of green hydrogen. Reportedly, leveraging its first-mover advantage, HaiDe Hydrogen pioneered fluctuation-tolerant hydrogen production technology and a square-electrolyzer product suite. These have undergone long-term industrial-scale validation under real-world fluctuating operating conditions and received third-party certification—enabling HaiDe Hydrogen to become the first company globally to achieve green hydrogen costs at the $2/kg level. Both investor and customer: Sinopec invested twice This opened doors for HaiDe Hydrogen: its order volume surpassed RMB 100 million for the first time in 2024. Also in 2024, in August, Enze Fund—a subsidiary of Sinopec—led HaiDe Hydrogen’s Series A round. Concurrently, Sinopec launched comprehensive, in-depth collaboration with the company. By year-end, Aramco Ventures completed a strategic investment in HaiDe Hydrogen—the first such move by Aramco in the Asia-Pacific hydrogen sector. In July 2025, Sinopec Capital followed up with additional funding. In September, NIO Capital led a new round, while existing investors Xianghe Capital and YuYue Capital continued their follow-on investments. Earlier, in March 2022, HaiDe Hydrogen had secured its Pre-A round from ZhenFund, Innofund, Tsinghua Alumni Seed Fund, Xianghe Capital, and Qingyan HuaKe New Energy Research Institute (jointly initiated by Academician Ouyang Minggao’s team, Tsinghua University Suzhou Automotive Research Institute, and others). In this year’s Series B+ round, Aramco doubled down again—and Conch Cement entered the picture. Major players—including Sinopec, Saudi Aramco, and Conch Cement—are not only investors but also industrial partners across the hydrogen value chain. Today, HaiDe Hydrogen has established global project delivery capabilities spanning China, Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Africa—with over 700 MW delivered and more than 20 flagship projects deployed. Its annual production capacity has reached 1 GW. Beyond Sinopec, Saudi Aramco, and Conch Cement, HaiDe Hydrogen has forged deep partnerships with global energy and industrial leaders including Shell, TotalEnergies, and Goldwind. In application scenarios, HaiDe Hydrogen’s solutions have achieved large-scale deployment across three domains: • Green fuels: Participating in the world’s largest green methanol project, supplying low-cost green hydrogen as a scalable fuel for maritime decarbonization; • Industrial carbon reduction: Delivering Asia’s first green hydrogen–cement decarbonization integration project, collaborating with petrochemical and coal chemical enterprises to advance green fuel substitution; • Zero-carbon energy supply: Contributing to NEOM City’s zero-carbon energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and deploying Europe’s largest PV–hydrogen energy storage project in Italy.

Is the 'spring' arriving? State-backed entities are accelerating entry—experts forecast a trillion-yuan scale market!

Alkaline electrolyzers represent the most mature technology, achieving ~70% hydrogen production efficiency. Domestic tender prices have dropped to RMB 700–1,500 per kW, with full system costs around RMB 2,000/kW—making them the dominant technical route for green hydrogen projects. Yet their regulation capability is limited: both regulation range and response speed fall short of what’s needed to accommodate the volatility of renewable energy. PEM electrolyzers offer superior regulation performance and better compatibility with renewables, reaching efficiencies of 70%–80%. However, equipment costs stand at RMB 6,000–7,000/kW—more than three times that of alkaline systems. Simple calculations assuming exclusive use of alkaline electrolyzers suggest green hydrogen and green ammonia are already economically viable. But idealized models ignore real-world operational constraints—precisely why many green hydrogen/ammonia/methanol projects appear promising on paper yet incur losses in practice. Idealized models typically assume annual electrolyzer operating hours exceed 4,000. Yet wind power’s extreme volatility renders hydrogen and ammonia production equipment ill-suited for direct coupling: globally, average load factors for wind–solar–hydrogen projects stand at just 58.7%; domestically, many projects achieve fewer than 3,000 equivalent full-load hours—significantly inflating unit depreciation costs. In practice, extensive supporting infrastructure—such as novel energy storage systems, PEM electrolyzers, and hydrogen storage tanks—is required, or grid interconnection must be used for regulation. Comparing three regulation options—grid-based balancing, battery + hydrogen storage, and hydrogen storage + fuel cells—the grid-balancing solution currently offers the strongest economics in most regions. Yet it inevitably raises green hydrogen and green ammonia costs. Conversely, fully off-grid operation relying solely on battery storage would drastically increase green hydrogen costs. Moreover, idealized models typically account only for hydrogen production costs—completely overlooking additional losses and capital expenditures associated with hydrogen storage/transportation and ammonia/methanol synthesis. Transporting low-cost green hydrogen from Northwest China to Eastern consumption centers can incur storage-and-transport costs exceeding the production cost itself—further eroding economic viability. Now consider demand. Currently, 94% of total hydrogen and 70% of green hydrogen consumption occurs in the chemical industry, where hydrogen serves primarily as a feedstock—not an energy carrier. Energy-sector consumption remains negligible, directly constraining industry growth. Policy bottlenecks persist as well. Hydrogen remains classified as a hazardous chemical in China, subjecting production projects to stringent approval processes that hinder green hydrogen development and deployment. Nationwide, no unified green hydrogen subsidy policy exists. Meanwhile, China’s national carbon market covers only the power sector—excluding high-emission industries like steel and chemicals. Additionally, China’s average carbon price stands at RMB 60–100/ton—far below Europe’s RMB 600–700/ton. Such low carbon pricing fails to offset green hydrogen’s current premium cost. Given today’s cost structure, green hydrogen remains ‘beautiful in theory—but unprofitable in practice.’ So how do we break through? How to break through? The Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) identifies three pillars for unlocking green hydrogen applications: First, affordability—costs must fall below blue hydrogen; Second, scalability—consumption volume must expand significantly; Third, synergy—integrated electricity–hydrogen coordination and large-scale deployment must be realized. Affordability hinges on cost reduction. Electricity is the single largest cost component—accounting for over 70% of green hydrogen’s total cost. Calculations show: at an electricity price of RMB 0.3/kWh, alkaline and PEM water electrolysis cost RMB 19/kg and RMB 28/kg respectively; lowering electricity costs to RMB 0.2/kWh reduces those figures to RMB 13/kg and RMB 23/kg.

Major Industrial Projects Announced: Phosphoric Acid and Green Hydrogen

3 days ago

Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum announced a $658 million phosphoric acid project with 250,000 mt capacity, alongside green hydrogen developments in Morocco. These investments mark significant expansion in African chemical and energy sectors.

chemweek

2026-09-18

Projects: Thursday, September 16, 2026

2026-10-09

Major Industrial Projects Announced: Phosphoric Acid and Green Hydrogen

Major Industrial Projects Announced: Phosphoric Acid and Green Hydrogen

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