Japan'S Hydrogen Energy Industry Chain Observation: How To Build A Hydrogen Energy Society?

Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, which is suffering from a nuclear accident, is seeking new energy recovery.

At the end of 11, a number of domestic media, including the twenty-first Century economic report, were invited to Japan's Fukushima Prefecture to interview the reconstruction business here. As the first power County in Japan, Fukushima once held the two largest nuclear power plant of Tokyo electric power company, and such brilliance fell into a bubble in the 2011 East Japan earthquake.

8 years later, a new solar energy hydrogen production plant started here, led by the Japanese National New Energy Industrial Technology Development Institute (NEDO), the Toshiba energy system, the Northeast Power Company and the Rock Valley Industry Company to form an industrial alliance to build and operate the experimental factory, the Fukushima hydrogen energy research base (FH2R).

"At present, FH2R has completed the construction of hydrogen production workshop, and PV panels in the solar power generation area are still in the process of installation." NEDO hydrogen energy department general researcher Taiping two told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter, "the final production time we hope to catch up with before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, so that hydrogen energy vehicles in the Olympics will use the hydrogen produced here."

In addition to hydrogen production, Japan's layout in the hydrogen energy industry chain has gradually deepened. Apart from the development of various hydrogen energy vehicles represented by TOYOTA, the world's first hydrogen transportation pipeline is also in the layout, coupled with the expected use of hydrogen energy battery terminals in the Olympic village. Japan seems to focus the future energy transformation on hydrogen energy.

Unlike China's Government Industrial Park, Japan has adopted the consortium industrial alliance to foster hydrogen industry in the hydrogen industry. - Song Wenhui diagram

Solar energy hydrogen production route

Unlike the current mainstream natural gas production (Japan) and coal hydrogen production (China), FH2R uses solar power generation and electrolysis water to produce hydrogen - through direct current in electrolytes filled with electrolytes, and water molecules react on the electrodes to produce hydrogen and oxygen.

"The reason why hydrogen is produced by renewable energy is that the whole process of decarbonization is crucial in many hydrogen production technologies." Taiping two told our reporter, "however, this process is very complex, to reduce the cost of all links, including renewable energy itself, production technology also needs improvement."

However, because of the need for confidentiality, Taiping two did not disclose to reporters how much the cost of hydrogen production and the final price of the plant are now, but he said that the biggest challenge of the plant at present is not from cost control, but from synergy with renewable energy power generation.

The power of the plant comes from the 180 thousand square meter solar power plant planned next to it, with a generating capacity of 200 thousand kilowatts / year. The surplus electricity will be incorporated into the Northeast power company's power grid after the factory is formally put into operation, providing electricity for other power utilities.

Taiping two told reporters that the key to the operation of the plant is how to ensure a stable supply of electricity and balance the relationship between hydrogen production, energy storage and the entire power system. "We need not only to maximize the use of fluctuating renewable energy, but also to predict the supply and demand of hydrogen in the form of big data in order to achieve the best system efficiency." He said.

This is why the factory is more experimental in nature. Toshiba energy system, Northeast Power Company and Rock Valley Industrial Company are responsible for hydrogen production equipment, big data research and solar power generation as well as specific production and energy transmission.

It is reported that FH2R has planned 40 thousand square meters of hydrogen production workshop, and the system has 10 thousand kilowatts of hydrogen production capacity. At the initial stage of production, the production capacity will be 2000 cubic meters per hour, which can produce 900 tons of hydrogen per year, which can meet the hydrogen demand of 10 thousand hydrogen energy vehicles for one year.

"From the current case, we can achieve the production of 2000 cubic meters per hour, but it also depends on the specific implementation process. By the end of the whole experimental phase, the capacity expansion can also be carried out by installing many other devices. " Taiping two said, "of course, it is time to consider the overall cost."

Behind this assumption, the experimental base will use the new control system to coordinate the hydrogen energy system. The overall operation of the power grid control system and the hydrogen demand forecasting system can optimize the production, power generation and supply of hydrogen. The system will use hydrogen to counteract the grid load and deliver hydrogen to northeastern Japan and other regions, and will try to prove that hydrogen is the advantage of power grid balancing solutions and gas sources.

Hydrogen will be transported in compressed hydrogen trailers and provided to the users. In order to ensure the safety and stability of the process, the new hydrogen transport truck is adopted. The rear side of the whole tank is equipped with tires. The hydrogen enters the compressor after being compressed from the gas storage tank, and then is directly poured into the transport gas tank. The truck body can directly leave the gas tank behind, and it can leave without the need of on-site irrigation to ensure maximum safety of hydrogen filling and transportation.

Industrial Alliance promotion

Unlike China's Government Industrial Park, Japan has adopted the consortium industrial alliance to foster hydrogen industry in the hydrogen industry.

As mentioned above, with the government's NEDO as the leading factor, Toshiba energy, northeast electric power company and Rock Valley Industrial Company are investing in different advantageous groups. They can not only share the risks of the project, but also pave the way for the operation, power consumption and supply, hydrogen energy transportation and sales of the factory after its formal operation.

The same pattern also reflects Japan's development in the downstream application of hydrogen. With TOYOTA as the representative, the upstream and downstream of the joint industry chain includes hydrogen supply, transportation, consumption and terminal enterprises in all aspects.

The benefits of this model are obvious: Several giants are collaborating, which can almost synchronize the entire industrial chain after the application terminal production, and at the same time, sharing risks and sharing benefits, so that every enterprise can share a slice of hydrogen cake to ensure the sustainability of market expansion.

However, such an idea still needs to run in order to ensure the effect when it comes to the actual operation. Taking hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as an example, there are 100 hydrogen stations in Japan, but only 14 of them are political and economic centers in Tokyo.

Even so, Japan also sits on the top of the world's largest number of hydrogen refueling stations, according to the H2stations.org website. By the end of 2018, there were 369 global hydrotreating stations, and Japan, Germany and the United States ranked the top three, and China ranked fourth in 23 places.

In an interview with the media, Nakai Kushi, director of the public relations and technology team of Toyota Corporation, said that the timely construction of the hydrogenation station needs a process. Because of the massive investment in the early stage, TOYOTA still has a lot of losses in the sale of hydrogen energy vehicles.

As its main hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the "MIRAI" (future) price is 7 million 200 thousand yen (about 460 thousand yuan), the government will subsidize 3 million yen (about 200 thousand yuan), plus purchase tax and other expenses, individual purchase will eventually bear about 300 thousand yuan in price.

In the entire research and development process, the key components in the future lie in FC battery stack and high pressure hydrogen storage tank. Nakai Kushi introduced that the power density of FC battery stack is 3.1kw/L, and its weight is only 56 kg. Compared with the 2008 version of the fuel cell stack, the power density of the battery stack has increased by 2.2 times and the weight has been reduced by nearly 50%.

In the aspect of high pressure hydrogen storage tank, Japan began to research and develop in 2008. Through the innovative structure of carbon fiber reinforced plastic layer, lightweight and quality hydrogen storage density has reached the world's leading 5.7wt%. The higher the weight percentage, the more hydrogen it contains.

Compared with Japan, the development mode of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China starts with commercial vehicles and gradually changes to passenger cars. On the one hand, the energy and physical properties of the hydrogen fuel cell itself are more suitable for commercial vehicles; on the other hand, it is the development stage of China's technology itself.

"I think that after gradually improving the technology of fuel cell and energy storage, Chinese companies may pay more attention to passenger cars." Taiping two told reporters that "the speed of technological improvement is very fast, and China's route is actually more reasonable."