China Launches First 100,000-Household-Level Large-Scale Hydrogen-Blended Natural Gas Demonstration Project

China’s first 100,000-household-level large-scale hydrogen-blended natural gas application demonstration project was officially launched recently in Weifang, Shandong Province, as learned from China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau Engineering Co., Ltd. on April 27. This milestone marks a new breakthrough in China’s large-scale hydrogen application, laying a solid foundation for the popularization of hydrogen energy in civil scenarios, CCTV News reported.

The project covers 100,000 urban households in the central urban area of Weifang, fully covering various people’s livelihood gas scenarios such as residents’ daily life and commercial catering. It adopts 30,000-cubic-meter hydrogen-blended natural gas equipment, with the hydrogen blending ratio adjustable up to 10%. Notably, residents can use the hydrogen-blended natural gas normally without replacing their existing gas equipment, which greatly reduces the promotion cost and improves the acceptance of new energy among the public.

The project is an important achievement of the “Hydrogen into Ten Thousand Homes” science and technology demonstration project. Launched jointly by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Shandong Province in April 2021, the “Hydrogen into Ten Thousand Homes” project aims to promote the application of hydrogen energy in terminal scenarios such as transportation, industry and residential energy use, with the construction goals of “one hydrogen energy expressway, two hydrogen energy ports, three popular science bases, four hydrogen energy parks and five hydrogen energy communities”.

Relying on the relevant projects of the “Hydrogen into Ten Thousand Homes” project, the project team has built China’s first full-chain hydrogen microgrid research and demonstration platform covering “production-storage-transportation-blending-application” in Weifang. China Development and Reform News stated that the platform is mainly used to test the safety and stability of full-chain hydrogen equipment and verify the reliability of pure hydrogen pipeline transportation technology. Up to now, the platform has completed tests on more than 100 sets of key components such as valves and flow meters from more than 10 enterprises.

In the process of participating in the “Hydrogen into Ten Thousand Homes” project, China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau Engineering Co., Ltd. took the lead in formulating China’s first hydrogen pipeline design standard, established evaluation methods for pipes and equipment as well as a performance database of hydrogen transmission pipes. It also built China’s first hydrogen actual flow measurement and detection platform and designed the country’s first special hydrogen transmission pipeline constructed in full accordance with urban gas standards, with an annual hydrogen transmission capacity of 30,000 tons.

Pan Fengwen, Deputy Director of the National Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Center, said the project has opened up the “last mile” for the application of hydrogen energy in the urban gas field, realizing large-scale, long-cycle and continuous hydrogen blending demonstration application in China for the first time. He added that hydrogen-blended natural gas has significant demonstration effects in green power consumption, energy security guarantee and carbon emission reduction.

A series of scientific research achievements have supported the project’s implementation and promoted the improvement of local regulations. Last year, Weifang formulated and issued China’s first local regulation supporting the application of hydrogen-blended natural gas, the Measures for the Administration of Gas in Weifang City, along with a series of industry management methods. This regulatory system, known as the “Urban Hydrogen Energy Application Manual”, has filled the institutional gap in the standardized management of urban civil hydrogen energy in China.