Beijing: China Petroleum & Chemical Corp’s green hydrogen plant in Xinjiang, the world’s largest, has boosted utilisation rates to 50% after flagging difficulties with the project late last year.

The Kuqa facility, which has capacity to produce 20,000 tonnes a year of hydrogen from renewable energy, is being closely watched as a test case for large-scale production of the carbon-free fuel. Global output of green hydrogen is expected to surge from about 100,000 tonnes last year to 51.2 million tonnes by 2030, according to BloombergNEF.

The project got off to a slow start when it launched in 2023, producing at about 20% of its annual utilisation rate over the second half of the year, according to data from the firm, also known as Sinopec.

The company said it faced problems with hydrogen-producing equipment not being able to handle fluctuations in power coming from intermittent renewable sources, but that it had come up with solutions.

Sinopec chairman Ma Yongsheng said the utilisation rate had been boosted to 50% at a press conference yesterday. All the plant now needs to get to full capacity is for upgrade works to be finished at a nearby oil refinery that will ultimately use the gas, he said.

Ma also said that Sinopec is exploring manufacturing its own electrolysers, equipment that can use renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen gas from water.

 - Bloomberg