China is building the world's largest green hydrogen production complex — powered entirely by Gobi Desert wind and solar.
China's approach to green hydrogen follows the same pattern as everything else in its energy transition: identify the optimal resource locations, build at unprecedented scale, and drive down costs through manufacturing volume until the economics are self-sustaining without subsidy.
The Kuqa green hydrogen project in Xinjiang — developed by Sinopec — is the world's largest green hydrogen facility currently operating. Twenty thousand solar panels and wind turbines generate electricity that powers 260 MW of electrolyzers producing 20,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually. The hydrogen is used at Sinopec's adjacent petrochemical refinery — replacing grey hydrogen currently produced from natural gas, saving over 485,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.
Kuqa is the demonstration project. Behind it comes a pipeline of industrial-scale green hydrogen facilities that dwarf Kuqa entirely. Inner Mongolia alone — with its extraordinary wind and solar resources and its large existing chemical industrial base — has approved green hydrogen projects with combined electrolyzer capacity exceeding 10 GW.
Chinese electrolyzer manufacturers — Sungrow, PERIC, and Longi Hydrogen — are producing alkaline electrolyzers at costs below $300 per kilowatt — less than half the cost of European competitors. That cost advantage, combined with China's cheap renewable electricity, is producing green hydrogen at prices approaching $2 per kilogram — competitive with fossil-derived hydrogen in many applications.
China is not just building for domestic use. It is developing green hydrogen export infrastructure targeting Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.
Sinopec — China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation — 2024
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