[SMM Hydrogen Policy Update] Zhaoyuan Municipal People's Government: Officially Issues the "Zhaoyuan City Green, Low-Carbon, High-Quality Development Implementation Plan" | A New Blueprint for High-Quality Development of the New Energy Industry

On December 23, the Zhaoyuan Municipal People's Government officially issued the "Zhaoyuan City Green, Low-Carbon, and High-Quality Development Implementation Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The Plan identifies the new energy industry as the core engine for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development, with a key focus on areas such as the entire hydrogen industry chain, and the integration of "nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, and energy storage", aiming to build a highly competitive green, low-carbon, intelligent manufacturing powerhouse and set a benchmark for new energy industry development at the county level.

As one of China's top 100 county-level economies and a benchmark county for new-type industrialisation, Zhaoyuan City, leveraging its own energy resource endowment and seizing the opportunity presented by the construction of Yantai's green, low-carbon, high-quality development demonstration city, proposes in the Plan a dual strategy of "building a safe, efficient, and clean energy system" and "cultivating and expanding emerging and future industries." It deeply integrates hydrogen energy industry development with the exploitation of clean energy sources like nuclear, wind, and solar power, forming a new energy industry ecosystem characterized by multi-energy complementarity and coordinated development.

By deeply integrating hydrogen energy industry development with the exploitation of clean energy sources such as nuclear, wind, and solar power, Zhaoyuan City strives to form a new energy industry ecosystem characterized by multi-energy complementarity and coordinated development, laying a solid foundation for the green, low-carbon transition.

Focusing on Full-Chain Layout, Tackling Core Areas of the Hydrogen Industry

Regarding the layout of the hydrogen industry, the Plan explicitly proposes cultivating clean energy industries, including hydrogen storage, with a key focus on exploring and laying out the entire industry chain of "hydrogen production - hydrogen storage - hydrogen refueling - hydrogen utilization". The main measures include:

First, establishing a hydrogen energy R&D center to promote the demonstration application and industrialisation of hydrogen production, storage, refueling, and utilization; second, leveraging Zhaoyuan's advantage of nuclear power as a base-load power supply, actively exploring the application of nuclear energy in electrolysis for hydrogen production, promoting the deep integration of nuclear technology and the hydrogen energy industry, providing stable, low-carbon energy support for hydrogen production, and solving the high energy consumption challenge of hydrogen preparation; third, simultaneously developing supporting industries such as energy storage power conversion systems, introducing enterprises specializing in energy storage inverters and integrated energy storage systems, and improving the infrastructure support for the hydrogen energy industry.

Strengthening Multi-Energy Synergy, Creating an Integrated "Nuclear, Wind, Solar, Hydrogen, Storage" Model

To promote the coordinated development of the hydrogen industry with other new energy industries, the Plan proposes creating an integrated development model of "nuclear, wind, solar, hydrogen, and storage." This model uses nuclear energy as the foundation, solar and wind power and energy storage as supplements, and electricity, heat, hydrogen, etc., as mediums to construct a distinctive Zhaoyuan zero-carbon development path.

Leveraging the space for clean energy development, Zhaoyuan City will coordinate land and sea efforts, agglomerate and build large-scale production sites for nuclear power, wind and solar power equipment, ESS batteries, hydrogen production, and related industries. Through industry chain investment promotion, business-led investment attraction, and green electricity and green hydrogen investment models, we will actively introduce domestic and overseas renowned, high-end, and intelligent hydrogen energy and related industry enterprises to further improve the industrial ecosystem chain.

Strengthening Carrier Support and Accelerating the Transformation of Hydrogen Energy Technological Achievements

In terms of industrial carrier construction, Zhaoyuan City focuses on strengthening two key supports:

First, taking the green, low-carbon intelligent manufacturing industrial park as the core area, we will prioritize the layout of high-end manufacturing projects such as new energy equipment and low-carbon environmental protection equipment, creating a zero-carbon smart park to provide a high-quality platform for the hydrogen energy industry's implementation. Second, we will promote the "secondary entrepreneurship" of the development zone, deepen the pilot construction for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development, and introduce a series of replicable and scalable hydrogen energy industry development experiences. This will accelerate the transformation and application of hydrogen energy technological achievements, facilitating the industry's scaling-up development.

Improving the Support System and Optimizing the Hydrogen Energy Development Environment

The plan outlines a series of safeguard measures to escort the development of the hydrogen energy industry:

In terms of technical support, by establishing high-level innovation platforms, cultivating technology benchmark enterprises, and promoting major technological innovation breakthroughs, we will focus on tackling key technologies in the hydrogen energy sector and strengthen the supply capacity of green, low-carbon technologies. Regarding policy support, through improving the market-oriented allocation of factors and reforms, we will provide precise support for the hydrogen energy industry's development in areas such as land, energy consumption, and finance, creating a favorable development environment in all aspects.