Will hydrogen fuel take Hong Kong to net zero by 2050? The Post looks at the developments

It contains no carbon in its molecular structure and produces only water vapor when burned, which helps reduce air pollution.

Tse Chin-wan, secretary of environment and ecology, said on Monday that developing hydrogen energy, with sufficient infrastructure and talent training, will help the city achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

Beijing published a white paper in 2020 aimed at promoting the development of the hydrogen energy industry and related technologies and increasing the share of hydrogen in the national fuel mix.

“Our country has clearly stated that hydrogen will be an important element of the national energy system in the future,” Tse said.

“Seizing the opportunities presented by the development of hydrogen energy can help Hong Kong achieve carbon neutrality, develop a new quality of production capacity and maintain international competitiveness.”

2. What type of hydrogen will be used in the research?

Due to the high reactivity of atoms, pure hydrogen does not occur in nature, but occurs in compounds such as water and methane.

Hydrogen can be obtained by reforming hydrocarbon fuels or by methods such as thermal cracking, hydrolysis and water electrolysis.

So although hydrogen does not contain carbon, its feedstocks or conversion processes still emit carbon, which offsets the benefits of decarbonization.

Currently, there are three ways to obtain hydrogen, using gray, blue and green technologies.

Gray and blue hydrogen are produced from fossil fuels, while blue hydrogen has a smaller carbon footprint because it uses technology to capture carbon dioxide emitted during production.

Green hydrogen comes from renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar photovoltaics to electrolyze water into oxygen and hydrogen, but can be up to four times more expensive to produce than gray hydrogen.

Tse said the government retained “a degree of flexibility” in formulating the strategy due to the “large uncertainty around the price competitiveness of green hydrogen.”

“This will prevent economic benefits from being sacrificed when we act too quickly,” he explained.

3. What is the goal of the strategy?

Authorities hope that Hong Kong can become the country’s showcase for hydrogen development.

The city’s hydrogen energy certification system, in line with international standards, is expected to be ready by 2027.

The government will establish the city’s first public hydrogen refueling station, and later this year it will begin testing three hydrogen-powered street washers.

Discussions on technical exchange and exchange of experiences with counterparts in mainland China will also begin this year, and an advertising campaign will be launched to expand awareness of hydrogen energy.

Proposals for legislative changes providing a legal basis for regulating the production, storage, transport, delivery and use of hydrogen as a fuel will be submitted in the first half of 2025.

Hydrogen is currently still considered a potential threat rather than an energy source.

The authority expects to have hydrogen refueling infrastructure in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories by the end of 2027, and to begin working with the mainland on a hydrogen supply network to the rest of the Greater Bay area.

The Greater Bay Area is Beijing’s plan to transform Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland Chinese cities into an economic powerhouse.

4. What type of public transport in Hong Kong will use hydrogen?

The city’s first hydrogen-powered double-decker bus, operated by Citybus, went into service in February, and the company said it plans to add five more as early as next year.

However, its larger counterpart, KMB, has ruled out the introduction of hydrogen-powered buses.

Rail giant MTR Corporation is expected to test a hydrogen-powered light train this year.

The government also wants to include codes of conduct for hydrogen vehicles, maintenance workshops and hydrogen refueling stations in the city legal framework.

5. What other hydrogen projects are likely?

By March, a government working group had approved 14 projects for trial use of hydrogen.

These include Citybus’s plan to build a fuel station at its Sham Shui Po depot and a hydrogen production center run by Towngas.

Other projects expected to begin later this year include petrochemical giant Sinopec’s plan to build a gas station in Yuen Long.

Other companies will also explore the feasibility of projects involving cross-border hydrogen supplies and the use of hydrogen-powered generators on construction sites in remote areas.

Authorities will also explore the possibility of using hydrogen-powered mobile machines at airports, port facilities, container terminals and construction sites on a large scale.

6. What are hydrogen policies elsewhere?

The U.S. Department of Energy already published the National Hydrogen Energy Action Plan in 2002 to promote hydrogen energy from theoretical research to practical applications.

It also launched an action plan in 2004 and later invested in hydrogen energy and fuel cell projects to explore commercial applications of the fuel.

Washington clarified the strategic status of hydrogen energy for 2022 and defined short-, medium- and long-term goals and a schedule for 2022-2035.

The European Commission has published plans for 2020 to spend hundreds of billions of euros over 10 years on the industrial chain covering hydrogen production, storage, transport and refueling.

In 2020, Beijing published its first national top-level planning document to clarify hydrogen’s strategic place in the country’s energy and economic development.

It also announced medium- and long-term plans to revive the industry.

Six central ministries and commissions published guidelines last August designed to address the industrial chain of hydrogen production, storage, transportation and use.

Since May last year, President Xi Jinping has visited at least three provinces and cities, including Sichuan, Jiangxi and Chongqing, to push for industrial development.

In his April speech in Chongqing, Xi stressed the importance of increasing security in key areas such as energy and accelerating the construction of new energy systems.

Singapore announced plans earlier this year to use hydrogen as a fuel from 2035 as part of its drive to achieve net zero carbon emissions targets by 2050.

The city authorities have ruled that all new and modernized power plants must be at least 30% compatible with hydrogen.

It should also be possible to modernize power plants so that in the future they can be powered exclusively by hydrogen.