In order to implement the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, and in accordance with the relevant work arrangements of the "Medium - and Long Term Plan for the Development of the Hydrogen Energy Industry (2021-2035)" and the "Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Application of Clean Low Carbon Hydrogen in the Industrial Sector", the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") recently jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying out Pilot Work for Comprehensive Application of Hydrogen Energy" (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Joint Section [2026] No. 59, hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") to drive cost reduction through multi scenario scale applications, assist in the innovation and breakthrough of hydrogen energy technology and equipment, and promote. The person in charge of the Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology answered questions from reporters regarding the background, significance, and main content of the "Notice".
Q: Could you please introduce the background and significance of carrying out pilot projects for comprehensive application of hydrogen energy?
Answer: Hydrogen energy has three attributes: energy, resources, and energy storage medium. The hydrogen energy industry has high technological content, strong low-carbon attributes, and great development space. Promoting the high-quality development of the hydrogen energy industry will provide important support for the green transformation of the economy, the development of new quality productivity, and the achievement of the "dual carbon" goal.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attach great importance to the development of the hydrogen energy industry. The Outline of the 15th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China proposes to implement large-scale demonstration actions for the application of new technologies, new products, and new scenarios, increase the cultivation and opening up of scenarios, and promote hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy to become new economic growth points. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to expand the application of green electricity and cultivate new growth points such as hydrogen energy and green fuels. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, China's hydrogen energy industry has made positive progress and has initially established a relatively complete industrial and supply chain. By the end of 2025, the cumulative sales of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will reach nearly 40000 units, with 574 hydrogen refueling stations built and a refueling capacity of over 360 tons per day, ranking first in the world. A batch of 10000 ton green hydrogen, 100000 ton green ammonia alcohol, and million ton hydrogen metallurgy industrialization projects have been put into operation one after another, and the refining and coal chemical industries have achieved stable replacement of some green hydrogen applications. The national green hydrogen production capacity is about 250000 tons. China's hydrogen energy industry has achieved a breakthrough from 0 to 1, entering a critical stage of crossing technological and economic turning points and rapid scale development. However, it should also be noted that the application of hydrogen energy faces problems such as limited scenarios, shortage of green hydrogen, high prices, and difficulties in storage, transportation, and refueling. The business model has not yet been formed, and market demand needs to be released. Continuous efforts and key support are needed at the national level to discover and solve problems through application traction, and to further promote this emerging field.
During the 15th Five Year Plan period, pilot projects for comprehensive application of hydrogen energy will be carried out to promote the large-scale and high-quality development of China's hydrogen energy industry through scenario guidance, technical support, and policy support. This will help expand the application of green electricity, cultivate new drivers of economic growth, and promote the deep decarbonization and green transformation of traditional industries.
Q: What is the overall consideration for the pilot work of hydrogen energy comprehensive application?
Answer: In order to thoroughly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and promote the high-quality development of the hydrogen energy industry, the three departments jointly drafted the "Notice" and deployed the pilot work of comprehensive application of hydrogen energy. The overall consideration is to support the large-scale application of clean low-carbon hydrogen such as renewable energy electrolysis for hydrogen production and industrial by-product hydrogen in major national strategic regions with good resource endowment and application scenarios, coordinate various resources, explore multiple paths and regional linkage, complement and integrate multiple energy sources, expand the consumption of hydrogen energy terminal products, and promote the early realization of commercial circulation in the hydrogen energy industry. In terms of pilot subjects, considering the uneven distribution of industrial foundation and resources across the country, it is difficult for a single city to build an ecological closed loop. It is required that local areas form urban clusters according to local conditions, and through regional coordination and linkage, break down barriers in various links of the industrial chain. In terms of support, under the premise of achieving upstream and downstream chain connectivity within urban agglomerations, we focus on application side support, reduce hydrogen energy costs and terminal product prices, help enterprises open up market sales in the early stages of development, accelerate application scenario expansion, and scale improvement. In terms of reward and subsidy methods, precise support for different scenarios is achieved through "substituting rewards for subsidies", and a reward and subsidy rebate mechanism is set up. According to the method of "pre allocation first, settlement later", after the approval of the pilot city cluster, the central government will allocate reward funds in advance to support the launch of hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot work in the city cluster.
Considering that the comprehensive application of hydrogen energy involves many regions and industries, the three departments jointly conducted special research, held multiple discussions and exchanges with key enterprises, industry institutions, and local governments, conducted on-site research on clean low-carbon hydrogen application projects and related hydrogen energy equipment production enterprises in metallurgy, chemical industry, automobile, shipping, power and other fields, and gained a deep understanding of the application status, development trends and challenges faced. The final pilot work content and requirements were put forward after fully gathering information from all parties and carefully analyzing and judging.
Q: What are the main contents of the pilot project for comprehensive application of hydrogen energy?
Answer: In this pilot program, city clusters will be selected through the "unveiling and leading" method, and six lists will be set up, including fuel cell vehicles, green ammonia alcohols, hydrogen based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, hydrogen blending combustion, and innovative application scenarios. City clusters can focus on selecting scenarios with high technological maturity, large consumption scale and potential, and good technical and economic feasibility to "unveil" and carry out pilot applications, forming a "1+N+X" hydrogen energy comprehensive application ecology. Specifically, it includes:
A universal scenario for fuel cell vehicles, highlighting the pilot promotion of medium and heavy-duty trucks, medium and long-distance heavy-duty trucks, and cold chain logistics models. These scenarios are economically viable in areas with abundant hydrogen resources and can complement the development of pure electric vehicles, helping to further enhance the resilience and safety of China's new energy vehicle industry chain. Considering that fuel cell vehicles belong to transportation vehicles and have universality in various places, urban agglomerations with industrial applications as the main focus should consider fuel cell vehicles as a universal scenario when conducting pilot work.
N industrial scale application scenarios, mainly including green ammonia alcohol, hydrogen based chemical raw material substitution, hydrogen metallurgy, hydrogen doped combustion, etc. These scenarios use hydrogen on a large scale, which can drive the rapid reduction of hydrogen costs through economies of scale. Many projects in various regions have already been put into operation, possessing the first mover advantage of achieving large-scale application of hydrogen energy. Each urban agglomeration should choose one or more of the above scenarios according to local conditions to carry out pilot projects and open up the ecological loop of hydrogen energy comprehensive application.
X innovative application scenarios for hydrogen energy, including ships, aviation, rail transit, two wheelers, etc. These scenarios are currently in the stage of small-scale demonstration and verification, but they have strong technological innovation and certain development potential, and are important directions for future hydrogen energy applications. Exploring the application of urban agglomerations based on visual conditions, as an important supplement to scenarios such as automobiles and industries.
Q: Could you please introduce the requirements for pilot application and selection?
Answer: The application for urban agglomerations should be based on the requirements of "regional connectivity, industrial synergy, and ecological closed-loop", and the leading city should be voluntarily combined and determined through negotiation. Urban agglomerations should be based on their own resource conditions, adapt to local conditions, and avoid the rush of various scenarios and low-level redundant construction. Ensure that the construction and operation of relevant projects comply with national regulations and standards on safety, energy conservation, environmental protection, quality, etc. After determining the specific scenarios for the "unveiling list" of the urban agglomeration, the leading city will organize other cities to jointly formulate a pilot work plan for the comprehensive application of hydrogen energy in this urban agglomeration, clarifying the overall goals of hydrogen energy comprehensive application, as well as the detailed task goals for each year, city, and scenario. The three departments will entrust a third-party organization to conduct a comprehensive review of the qualified application schemes, issue review opinions, and implement each scheme as it matures.
Q: What are the reward standards for this hydrogen energy pilot project?
Answer: The reward standards are set according to the application of terminal products in various scenarios or the scale of hydrogen use. The pilot period for each urban agglomeration is 4 years. The maximum reward limit for a single city cluster during the pilot period shall not exceed 1.6 billion yuan. After the end of each pilot year, the leading cities of each urban agglomeration should summarize the detailed situation of the pilot work in the previous year and prepare a self-evaluation report. The three departments will entrust a third-party organization to issue a performance evaluation report. The central government allocates reward funds according to the performance evaluation results and the process. At the same time, in order to timely grasp the progress of urban agglomeration pilot projects and better support performance evaluation work, a hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot management service platform will be established to achieve real-time supervision of the hydrogen energy supply system and application scenarios pilot progress, hydrogen consumption and other aspects in each pilot urban agglomeration, providing detailed data support for performance evaluation.
Q: How will various regions and relevant departments supervise and manage the pilot work?
Answer: On the one hand, provincial authorities should play an organizational and coordinating role, guide urban agglomerations to clarify their functional positioning and division of labor, establish communication, coordination, and organizational mechanisms between cities, and propose internal supervision and assessment systems and punishment measures for urban agglomerations. Urban agglomerations are the main responsible parties for the pilot work of hydrogen energy comprehensive application. A leadership group and a special working group should be established to formulate the management methods for the pilot funds of hydrogen energy comprehensive application, improve the policy and institutional environment, and establish a sound safety management system. Encourage local governments to strengthen fiscal and financial coordination, promote linkage with financial policies such as service industry operating loans, and provide diversified financial support for pilot projects of hydrogen energy comprehensive application. On the other hand, the three departments will strengthen the guidance of the entire process of the pilot work, and realize the monitoring of the entire process and chain of the hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot through the hydrogen energy comprehensive application pilot management service platform, strengthen performance management, implement node control, ensure the practical application of clean low-carbon hydrogen, and guarantee the effectiveness of the pilot work. For urban agglomerations with slow progress and poor results in the pilot program, the three departments will promptly take punitive measures such as requiring adjustments to the implementation plan, deducting or suspending reward funds, suspending participating cities, or even canceling the qualification of urban agglomeration pilot programs. For urban agglomerations that have achieved positive results in pilot projects, it is encouraged to timely summarize the technology, models, policies, and other case experiences of typical scenarios. The three departments will timely report and praise them, and promote advanced experiences and models nationwide.
