Air Liquide and Houpu open the first Hydrogen Station in Zhejiang Province, China
- Asia
- Clean mobility
- Mobility
- Usage
On October 16, the first Hydrogen Refueling Station (HRS) in Zhejiang Province, China, was inaugurated. It is equipped with Air Liquide Houpu technology and will be operated by Sinopec.
This station is the first of Air Liquide Houpu, a joint venture created in the spring of 2019 that combines Air Liquide's global technological expertise in the field of hydrogen solutions for clean mobility with Houpu's leadership in the design and construction of natural gas stations in the Chinese market. Located in the city of Jiashan, at the gates of Shanghai, it is integrated in a multi-energy service station of the Chinese chemical and petroleum group Sinopec, and can supply daily more than 30 of the 100 hydrogen electric buses that the municipality has planned to roll out over the next few months.
Thanks to the combination of their respective know-how, Air Liquide and Houpu are able to provide their customers with state-of-the-art hydrogen solutions and meet the growing demand of the Chinese market for energy-efficient energy solutions that respect the environment. This partnership illustrates Air Liquide's contribution to the challenge of energy transition and clean mobility by offering alternative energy solutions.
China, along with South Korea, Japan, Germany and the United States, is among the leading countries in the development of hydrogen as a source of clean energy. Hydrogen and hydrogen powered electric vehicles are part of the 13th five-year plan of the Chinese government, which aims to support the development and commercialization of electric hydrogen vehicles for clean mobility.
Air Liquide in China operates nearly 90 plants and employs more than 4,000 employees today. With a strong presence in the key coastal industrial areas, Air Liquide is now expanding into the center, south and west. Its main business activities include industrial and medical gas operations, Engineering & Construction (designing, manufacturing and installing air separation units/hydrogen facilities), as well as Innovation activities.
Air Liquide’s commitment to hydrogen energy
In the past 50 years, Air Liquide has developed unique expertise enabling it to master the entire hydrogen supply chain, from production and storage to distribution and the development of applications for end users, thus contributing to the widespread use of hydrogen as a clean energy source, for mobility in particular. Air Liquide has designed and installed more than 120 stations around the world to date. Hydrogen is an alternative to meet the challenge of clean transportation and thus contributes to the improvement of air quality. Used in a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to produce electricity, emitting only water. It does not generate any pollution at the point of use: zero greenhouse gases, zero particles and zero noise. Hydrogen provides a concrete response to the challenges posed by sustainable mobility and local pollution in urban areas.