"Hydrogen" In Dawan District: Gazelle Join Forces To Speed Up The Breakthrough Of Hydrogen Energy Highland Industry

When it comes to Danzao Town in Nanhai District of Foshan, most people's impression still remains on the "capital of daily hardware in China". However, since 2020, it seems that more and more people begin to relish its new name, China hydrogen valley. This town has planned a park with an area of about 48 square kilometers, and is planning to compete for a new wave of hydrogen industry development based on this.

Ambition doesn't come out of thin air. As early as 2009, Danzao Town began to plan the road of transformation. Guangshun New Energy Power Technology Co., Ltd., which was attracted by investment, happened to open a new hydrogen energy industry for Danzao. Then, with policy incentives, investment and other measures, Danzao Town has built a hydrogen industry cluster highland with a total investment of more than 25 billion yuan.

After 2015, the hydrogen energy industry expanded rapidly from Danzao Town in Nanhai District to Foshan, and spread to surrounding Yunfu and Guangzhou, as well as Shenzhen and Dongguan. In a few years, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area has developed into one of the regions with the best foundation, fastest development and highest concentration of hydrogen energy industry in China.

According to the data of qixinbao, among the 1484 non small and micro enterprises involved in hydrogen energy business in China, Guangdong ranks first in terms of the number of 208 enterprises in China, and Guangdong Guohong Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guohong hydrogen energy"), Hongji Chuang Neng Technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hongji Chuang Neng") have emerged Xiongchuan hydrogen energy technology (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiongchuan hydrogen energy") and Shenzhen Nanke fuel cell Co., Ltd. are a group of gazelle enterprises with strong development momentum.

How can Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area, which does not have advantages in resource endowment, grow up from scratch? In just a few years, how can Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area become one of the fastest growing regions in China? This can be seen from the development path of many gazelle enterprises.

Behind the rapid rise of hydrogen energy industry in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area and the accelerated agglomeration of gazelle enterprises, it is inseparable from the strong market demand driving force and complete manufacturing foundation in Dawan district. Through the prospective layout of hydrogen energy industry, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area has taken the first mover advantage in the development of this emerging industry, and has carried out bold exploration and advanced deployment focusing on supporting hydrogen energy industry, planning and construction of hydrogenation stations, demonstration operation, etc; At the same time, Dawan district has actively promoted the construction of national and provincial key laboratories of hydrogen energy technology, and established an integrated industrial layout of government, enterprise, University and research of hydrogen energy industry.

At present, led by gazelle enterprises, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao's hydrogen energy industry is speeding up its breakthrough in the form of clusters to avoid the situation of "getting up early and catching up late". In the face of the current lack of scale effect of hydrogen energy, high cost and low benefit, and imperfect infrastructure construction, many gazelle enterprises in Dawan district began to build industrial platforms, accelerate the layout of hydrogenation stations, accelerate the engineering verification of domestic substitute products, etc., and move towards collaborative innovation. It is obvious that the government and enterprises are working together to promote the hydrogen energy industry in Dawan district from the first mover advantage to the overall competitive advantage.

Guangdong style: from a piece of white paper to the highland of hydrogen energy

Dr. Yan Xiqiang, deputy general manager of Guohong hydrogen energy, has been engaged in the industrialization and reliability development of fuel cell stack since 2002. He has witnessed the whole process of Guangdong's development from a white paper to a highland of hydrogen energy industry.

On June 30, 2015, under the policy of Foshan's counterpart assistance to Yunfu and the promotion of Foshan and Yunfu governments, Guohong hydrogen energy Co., Ltd., led by the industrialization of hydrogen energy, was established in Yunfu.

How to break the ice? Guohong hydrogen energy fully investigated and found that Guangdong's hydrogen energy base is relatively weak. If it starts from scratch, the development speed will be very slow. Finally, it decided to adopt the "high-speed rail mode", directly introduce foreign mature technologies into Guangdong for industrialization, build fuel cell stack and system scale production line in Yunfu, and carry out fuel cell industrial production, It has promoted the rapid development of hydrogen energy industrialization in Guangdong and even the whole country.

As a result, Guohong hydrogen energy has continuously introduced and digested advanced technologies, and gradually established its own technological innovation platform, becoming a typical representative of "high-speed rail mode" in the field of fuel cell. In 2016, Guohong hydrogen energy introduced Ballard's fuel cell stack production line technology, invested 700 million yuan to build the world's largest hydrogen fuel cell stack production line in Yunfu, and took the lead in realizing large-scale production of fuel cell bipolar plates, stacks and fuel cell systems in China.

Thanks to this, Guohong hydrogen energy achieved the first share of domestic power stack market for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019, becoming a real leading enterprise in the hydrogen energy industry, and effectively established the leading position of Guangdong hydrogen energy industry in the national hydrogen energy industry.

"If we simply introduce technology and do not master the core technology, the development of the enterprise will not be sustainable." Yan Xiqiang said that for this reason, Guohong hydrogen energy, together with domestic enterprises and universities, has successfully explored a new way of independent innovation of hydrogen fuel cells on the basis of fully digesting and absorbing foreign technologies.

In October 2020, Guohong hydrogen power officially released the Hongxin G1 series stack, which pushed the price of 100 class reactors in the industry at that time from 3000 to 4000 yuan / kW to the era of "1", which greatly reduced the application cost of hydrogen fuel cells and greatly promoted the commercial development of domestic hydrogen energy.

"Guangdong has played an important role in the industrialization of hydrogen fuel cells in China." According to Liao Shijun, Professor of South China University of technology and director of Guangdong Key Laboratory of fuel cell technology, the success of Guohong hydrogen energy is very important because of Guangdong's huge advantages in economic foundation, industrial foundation and talent base.

More accurately, this is mainly due to the strong power of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area in the development of emerging industries. To a certain extent, Yunfu hydrogen industry is a derivative, radiation and linkage development of emerging industries in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area.

Taking the R & D and production of Guohong Hongxin G1 series stack as an example, Hongji Chuang Neng, another gazelle enterprise located in Guangzhou Development Zone, plays an important role. This R & D enterprise, established at the end of 2017, is the first high-tech enterprise in the field of fuel cell membrane electrode R & D and production introduced by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area in the process of competing for hydrogen energy industry.

Membrane electrode is called the "chip" of fuel cell. It determines the performance, life and cost of fuel cell, accounting for 70% of the cost of fuel cell stack. However, it has always been a bottleneck problem restricting the development of China's hydrogen energy industry.

Hongji Chuang can live up to the expectations. In just a few years, it has independently developed the first fully automated mea packaging production line, using the world's most advanced catalyst coated proton membrane (CCM) continuous automatic production technology, breaking the foreign monopoly.

Ye Siyu, vice chairman and chief technical officer of Hongji Chuang Neng (academician of Canadian Academy of Engineering), is an internationally recognized top figure in the field of fuel cell electrocatalysis and membrane electrode. In November 2018, ye Siyu joined Hongji Chuang Neng and led the research and development of the third and fourth generation products.

Hu Kuangji, director of public relations of Hongji Chuang Neng, said that at present, the company has the largest independent membrane electrode production line in China, with a daily capacity of 15000 pieces of CCM, and the annual design capacity of CCM and membrane electrode in phase I project reaches 300000 square meters.

This is undoubtedly crucial to the leapfrog development of the national hydrogen energy industry. According to the calculation of the third party, the performance of fuel cell stack can be improved by 35%, the cost of fuel cell stack will be reduced by 30%, and the cost of kilowatt will be reduced by 50% compared with the same period of last year.

More importantly, relying on the "leader" of the gazelle enterprises such as Guohong hydrogen energy and Hongji Chuang Neng, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Dawan district is speeding up its journey to the highland of hydrogen energy industry, and talents, technology, capital and high-quality enterprises are constantly gathering and developing. For example, in addition to nurturing local gazelle enterprises, Guangdong has also attracted high-quality enterprises such as South Korea Hyundai hydrogen energy, Dalian Xinyuan power, Shanghai Jidan hydrogen energy, Shunhua new energy and shijiatoubo, and attracted many high-end talents such as ye Siyu, Wang Haijiang, Liu Jianguo, Zhang Ruiming, Zou Yuquan, Liu Zhixiang, Yan Xiqiang and Chen Zhongwei.

Gathering strength: amplifying the effect of talent, technology and Capital Agglomeration

As a hot spot, the innovative development of hydrogen energy industry in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area is showing opportunities. This not only means that the new driving force of industrial development is continuously cultivated, but also means that more and more gazelle enterprises are expected to "run out".

Although he is not from a technical background, Li Rongjun, deputy general manager of Xiongchuan hydrogen energy, is fully aware of the huge development potential of the hydrogen industry with his keen "sense of smell" after more than 20 years of hard work in the field of energy. In November 2017, Xiongchuan hydrogen energy was established in Guangzhou Development Zone, and chose a precise incision: "considering that our entrepreneurial team lacks talents with professional and technical background of hydrogen energy, the company chose to start from the construction of hydrogenation station and the promotion and application of hydrogen energy vehicles at the beginning of its establishment."

Unexpectedly, this happens to coincide with the stage demand of hydrogen energy industry development. Li Rongjun said that at that time, the hydrogen energy industry was still in the primary stage of development, facing a series of thorny problems, such as the imperfect industrial chain, the lack of infrastructure (hydrogenation stations), and the small scale of market promotion. While the hydrogen refueling station and market application are the basis for the development of the hydrogen energy industry, there is an urgent need for hub companies that can connect upstream and downstream enterprises.

Hydrogen energy industry has a long chain and a large market, which covers several fields such as energy, chemical industry, transportation and environmental protection. From the perspective of application driven and market orientation, hydrogenation station as infrastructure has a crucial position.

However, the initial construction process of this new thing is not smooth“ The relevant national standards and management measures have not yet been promulgated, and it is difficult for enterprises to find departments responsible for approving the construction of hydrogen refueling stations, and the government is actively exploring ways to solve the problems. " Li Rongjun recalled that when he was worried about the difficulty in approving the construction of a hydrogen refueling station, one night, he received a phone call from a landline, saying, "the hydrogenation station you applied for can be built.". It turns out that the development and Reform Bureau of Huangpu District of Guangzhou City, after deeply studying the application materials of Xiongchuan hydrogen energy, took the initiative to break through the policy constraints at that time in the form of meeting minutes.

In March 2019, Xiongchuan hydrogen energy finally completed its first hydrogenation station. Thanks to the first trial in the approval of hydrogenation station construction, the number of hydrogenation station construction in Guangdong leads the country, laying a good foundation for the development of hydrogen energy industry. As of July 1, China has built 165 hydrogenation stations, 35 of which are in Guangdong, ranking first in China. In addition, the application scale of hydrogen energy vehicles in Guangdong Province has exceeded 1500, which firmly occupies the "top position" in China.

With the promotion of market and policy, Xiongchuan hydrogen energy is making great progress. In April this year, Xiongchuan hydrogen energy won 500 fuel cell dump truck orders in Guangzhou, becoming the largest hydrogen fuel cell vehicle operation platform in Guangzhou. At the same time, Xiongchuan hydrogen energy also shares and holds shares in a number of hydrogen core technology enterprises. Its Bay Area hydrogen energy incubation center has settled in 20 hydrogen core technology enterprises, including core materials, core parts, stacks, systems, testing and certification.

"At present, the hydrogen energy industry chain is not perfect, including proton exchange membrane, carbon paper and other core materials still rely on imports, and domestic catalysts are lack of engineering verification, so the hydrogen industry needs upstream and downstream enterprises to develop together." Li Rongjun said that the biggest advantage of the development of industrial agglomeration lies in that it can enlarge the agglomeration effect of talents, technology and capital by building an industrial platform and reduce the development cost; At the same time, it also provides an ice breaking opportunity for upstream and downstream enterprises to obtain market validation, which can greatly shorten the development and verification cycle.

Yan Xiqiang held the same view“ The market acceptance of new products is weak. In the current market scale is not large, enterprises are more willing to purchase the same kind of products which have been verified abroad for the sake of product reliability. The main gap between our products and foreign products is engineering verification. Therefore, domestic products need to be verified in more application scenarios, and technical iteration can be realized through data feedback to continuously improve product quality and reliability. "

In fact, this is becoming a prominent feature of the hydrogen energy industry in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao“ In the past two years, Hongji Chuang Neng has also attracted a large number of enterprises in the fields of catalyst and proton exchange membrane to settle in Guangzhou Development Zone, accelerating the group development of upstream and downstream enterprises. " Hu Kuangji introduced that in October last year, Hongji Chuang Neng also took the lead in conspiring with Shenzhen general Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Guangdong Jiping new energy Co., Ltd. and dongma Technology Co., Ltd. on the road of self-reliance of membrane electrode and its core materials.

Li Rongjun said that Xiongchuan hydrogen energy also introduced top talents in core materials such as catalysts and carbon paper, and actively arranged and improved the hydrogen industry chain in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Accelerating the development of hydrogen industry chain in the next five years

With the sharp decrease of hydrogen production cost and the rapid progress of fuel cell stack technology, the hydrogen industry has ushered in a period of rapid development opportunities, especially under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutralization.

Under the tuyere, the competition for "racetrack" of hydrogen energy industry is becoming increasingly fierce. According to the state owned assets supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, more than one third of the central enterprises are formulating the whole industrial chain layout including hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, hydrogenation and hydrogen utilization; Since July this year, the average increase of hydrogen energy concept stocks has reached 13.75%, 17% higher than the Shanghai stock index in the same period, and the hydrogen energy industry is heading for the "fast track".

The interviewees in the industry believe that with more and more enterprises speeding up the admission layout, the application scenarios and industrial chain of hydrogen energy are accelerating to improve, and the importance of hydrogen energy in energy, transportation and other fields is increasing significantly.

Taking the field of transportation as an example, Li Rongjun believes that after more than ten years of development, pure electric vehicles have begun to take shape, with relatively perfect batteries, motors and electronic control systems. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are based on pure electric vehicles and have more obvious advantages.

Hydrogen fuel cell has the advantages of short hydrogen charging time, long driving range, almost no attenuation and environmental protection in the whole life cycle. It can be used in large-scale energy storage, distributed power generation, trams, ships, aircraft and other fields. It has a broad market and a strong advantage of late development.

"Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are more suitable for heavy haul, long-distance, commercial and other fields that can not be solved by pure electric vehicles. Focusing on diesel replacement, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will develop in parallel with pure electric vehicles, without conflict." Li Rongjun said.

According to the data, the number of diesel vehicles in China exceeds 20.92 million, and the annual diesel consumption is about 160 million tons. The market scale of hydrogen energy vehicles substitutes reaches 6 trillion yuan, and the market scale of hydrogen fuel substitutes exceeds 1 trillion yuan every year.

This is undoubtedly an attractive "cake", but for the hydrogen energy industry in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and many gazelle enterprises in it, it is necessary to face up to the weaknesses of the short board, accelerate innovation and explore breakthrough while ushering in huge market opportunities. In accordance with the direction previously defined by the state, China's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle industry will focus on eight key core components and materials, such as membrane electrode, catalyst, carbon paper, bipolar plate, air compressor, etc., to strengthen the technical research and industrial application.

It is worth noting that although Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area has a certain advantage in the promotion scale of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the number of hydrogen refueling stations, it is facing the problem of insufficient hydrogen supply. Compared with Zhejiang, Sichuan and other places, Guangdong is restricted by less chemical industry and low utilization of scenic resources, so there are obvious shortcomings in hydrogen production field.

"At present, the cost of fuel cell engine and hydrogen refueling station are the bottlenecks restricting the development of hydrogen energy industry, but in the long run, reliable and low-cost hydrogen source is the key to the healthy and sustainable development of hydrogen energy industry. Taking Huangpu District of Guangzhou as an example, the current hydrogen price of hydrogen stations after local subsidies is 35 yuan / kg, while in some places in China it is only about 20 yuan / kg. " Li Rongjun said frankly that without sufficient and cheap hydrogen, the promotion and application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be greatly affected.

In this regard, Guangdong also has targeted deployment in its action to cultivate strategic emerging industrial clusters of new energy. It will promote the construction of hydrogen sources such as propane dehydrogenation and other industrial by-products, hydrogen production from valley power and clean energy, and integrate and utilize large-scale chemical hydrogen sources in the province, and improve the large-scale supply level of low-cost hydrogen sources. The goal is to achieve a hydrogen production scale of about 80000 tons by 2025 About 300 hydrogenation stations have been built.

Liao Shijun believes that in addition to the problem of hydrogen source, Dawan district should also promote the connection and development of hydrogen fuel cells on passenger cars. As an important automobile manufacturing base in China, Dawan district has been making great efforts to lay out the new energy automobile industry. At present, the new energy automobile industry cluster has begun to take shape in scale advantage.

It is worth noting that Guangdong has listed the "hydrogen energy industry chain cultivation project" as the top priority in Guangdong in the next five years. It is proposed to make use of the regional first mover advantages of low-temperature hydrogen fuel cell industry to create a vehicle fuel cell industrial cluster in the core area of Guangzhou Shenzhen Foshan huandawan District.

"In the next step, the development of hydrogen energy industry should rely on the automobile industry foundation of Dawan District, actively promote the combination of extensive demonstration of hydrogen energy commercial vehicles and appropriate promotion of hydrogen energy passenger vehicles, accelerate the development of new energy vehicles in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to turn to hydrogen energy, so as to stimulate the participation in the research and development of core parts and the construction of hydrogenation stations, and enhance the product competitiveness of fuel cell vehicles." Liao Shijun said.