Zibo city - located in East China's Shandong province - is moving to actively promote its role in the development of the country's hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry.
The metropolis was recently designated the a cooperative city for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Shanghai and Guangdong hydrogen fuel cell vehicle demonstration city clusters – approved by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration.
It is understood that Zibo's involvement will extend four years, which is seen as being of great significance for accelerating the large-scale development of the hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry and supporting the transformation of the city's energy structure.
Zibo's municipal government plans to strengthen its planning and policy support for hydrogen energy and seek advances in the development of the industries.
Zibo was one of the earliest cities in China to develop its hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry. It is widely viewed as having outstanding R&D capabilities, a complete industry foundation, as well as diverse hydrogen energy supplies and rich applications scenarios.
The corporate pioneers of China's hydrogen energy industry - SinoHytec and Edelman - have already launched fuel cell engine industrialization projects in Zibo.
These aim to form a complete and independent industry supply chain for hydrogen fuel stacks – the heart of the hydrogen-powered vehicles – and hydrogen fuel cells.
Moving forwards, Zibo plans to grasp the opportunity to secure core competitive advantages and create a highland for the hydrogen energy and fuel cell sector.
Plans are for it to build a large-scale hydrogen production industry center, equipment industry hub, a fuel cell commercial vehicle industry center and a fuel cell key materials and components industry base.
The city will apply fuel cell vehicles to its public transportation, heavy truck logistics, municipal sanitation operations, logistics and distribution, as well as to official vehicles and in other fields.
It will optimize the layout of its hydrogen refueling stations so that the number, distribution and scale of hydrogen refueling stations in the city can meet refueling needs.
The city is also encouraging hydrogen energy companies to integrate with exhibitions, tourism, communications, e-commerce and other commercial fields. That's so hydrogen energy can be more and more quickly integrated into all aspects of economic and social development.
The overall aim is that in the future, Zibo's hydrogen energy and fuel cell industries will become the new business card of the city's high-quality development.
