5177万千瓦与18万吨副产氢：哈密给氢能产业找了一张“入场券”51.77 million kilowatts and 180,000 tons of by-product hydrogen: Hami has found a 'ticket' for the hydrogen energy industry

Minghui

To understand Hami's energy transition, one can first look at a set of installed capacity data. According to Zhang Xiaoyi, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Hami City Development and Reform Commission, the total installed power capacity in Hami currently reaches 51.77 million kilowatts, of which 38.56 million kilowatts are from renewable energy sources, accounting for 74.5%. The city has already built a wind power base with tens of millions of kilowatts and a photovoltaic power base with millions of kilowatts. Hami is an important hub for transmitting Xinjiang electricity to other regions and also the largest combined wind, solar, and thermal power transmission base in the country. By the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the total installed power capacity in the city is expected to exceed 90 million kilowatts.

However, what Hami truly lacks is not the absolute scale of wind and solar installations, but that it simultaneously possesses two resources that are difficult to gather elsewhere: sufficiently cheap hydrogen and ample vehicle demand. When these two elements come together, the hydrogen energy industry does not have to start from scratch to cultivate a market.

Cheap hydrogen comes from coal chemical industry. Local coal chemical enterprises can purify over 180,000 tons of hydrogen annually from industrial by-products using waste gas purification technology, significantly reducing costs compared to hydrogen production by water electrolysis. In the Naomao Lake Coal Chemical Circular Economy Industrial Zone in Yiwu Industrial Park, hydrogen purification units operate around the clock; in front of Xuanli (Xinjiang) Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd.'s pure hydrogen factory refueling station, fully loaded coal hydrogen energy heavy trucks refuel and then drive on the road from Naomao Lake to Liugou. A widely circulated comment from a driver goes: "A round trip to Liugou is a few hundred kilometers, and one refueling of hydrogen is enough."

The demand comes from the trump card of "transporting Xinjiang coal outward." As the main battlefield for transporting Xinjiang coal outward, Hami's coal road transport volume is expected to exceed 47 million tons by 2025, with about 50,000 active heavy trucks daily. High-frequency, heavy-load, fixed-route transport scenarios align well with the advantages of hydrogen heavy trucks in long range, high transport capacity, and zero emissions; the overlap of three types of demand—mine site transfer, industrial park commuting, and inter-provincial mainline transport—creates a rare large-scale application scenario domestically.

The landing speed can be seen from several numbers: Hami has been identified as the first batch of autonomous region hydrogen energy industry demonstration zones, the world's largest single-day hydrogen refueling station has been built and put into operation, 569 hydrogen fuel heavy trucks and 7 hydrogen fuel buses are in operation; without government subsidies, the hydrogen refueling price reaches 20 yuan per kilogram, making it the core hub of the hydrogen energy industry in Northwest China. For hydrogen-powered transportation, “running without relying on subsidies” is more convincing than any planning document.

The second layer of resources is green electricity. By 2026, Hami plans a tens-of-millions-of-kilowatts-level “Shago荒” base on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, accelerates the construction of Guoneng projects, and strives to achieve a renewable energy installed capacity of 45 million kilowatts within the year; at the same time, it fully ensures the stable operation of direct current lines between Hami-Zhengzhou and Kunming-Chongqing, advances the grid connection of substations such as Shisan Jianfang and energy storage projects, aiming to achieve a power generation of over 90 billion kilowatt-hours, cross-regional electricity transmission of over 84 billion kilowatt-hours, and actively studies a third “Xinjiang electricity export” channel.

Solar thermal power is another card that Hami doesn’t often mention. Located in Naomao Lake Town, Yiwu County, the China Energy Engineering Hami 50,000-kilowatt molten salt tower solar thermal power station is Xinjiang's first solar thermal power demonstration project. For a base that sends out power in bundled form from wind, solar, and thermal, the value of solar thermal power is not in the electricity output, but in its adjustable power curve—it can continue to supply electricity in the evening when photovoltaic output declines, making the overall sent-out power smoother and of higher quality.

The coal industry itself is also accelerating. The local target for 2026 is an annual coal production of 160 million tons and over 60 million tons for external transport, with accelerated construction of mines such as Tiao Lake No. 1 and Zhifang No. 1, and comprehensive advancement in the Chahaquan mining area. The simultaneous expansion of coal and renewable energy may seem contradictory, but it reflects the current reality in Hami: coal provides cash flow and fuel for external transport, while renewable energy and hydrogen energy are responsible for the future industrial structure.

The risks are also evident. First, the by-product hydrogen route is highly dependent on the operating rate and scale of coal chemical plants, and fluctuations in the coal chemical industry's prosperity will directly transmit to hydrogen prices, meaning that the stability of the hydrogen supply is not entirely determined by the hydrogen energy industry itself; second, the cost of green hydrogen is still higher than that of by-product hydrogen, and the economic feasibility of "green hydrogen replacing grey hydrogen" in Hami still needs to be time-tested; third, the fleet of 569 hydrogen heavy trucks is still a very small proportion relative to the approximately 50,000 active heavy trucks per day, and scaling up has to overcome two thresholds: the density of the hydrogen refueling network and the cost of vehicle procurement.

From an industrial logic perspective, Hami has found a gradual path: first, use the lowest-cost by-product hydrogen from coal chemical plants to enter hydrogen stations and heavy truck operations, enabling downstream applications; then use wind and solar resources to produce green hydrogen to gradually replace carbon-based sources; and finally, produce hydrogen, ammonia, and alcohol products that can be transported externally. The local 15th Five-Year Plan goal revolves around this path—building the largest hydrogen-ammonia-alcohol production base in the western region, an important base for transporting western hydrogen to the east, and a hydrogen energy equipment manufacturing base.

Looking at coal and renewable energy on the same chart makes Hami's structural characteristics clearer. As a coal production base at the scale of hundreds of millions of tons, coal plays a pillar role in the local economy in terms of cash flow and employment, while also serving as the fuel source for 'Xinjiang coal export'; renewable energy and hydrogen energy, on the other hand, are positioned as future industrial directions. The coexistence of both is not a compromise during a transitional period, but rather a typical path for resource-based cities to transform—using profitable traditional industries to provide funding and scenario support for new industries that are not yet fully profitable. What really needs to be guarded against is the long-term consumption of traditional industry cash flow on new projects that lack competitiveness.

Computing power and hydrogen energy are both listed alongside Hami as two directions of new productive forces, and there is actually synergy between the two. Large-scale computing facilities are major electricity consumers and have a strong demand for stable and low-cost power supply; meanwhile, Hami has abundant green electricity resources and advantageous electricity prices, and local consumption can reduce transmission losses and the pressure of sending power elsewhere. When green electricity directly powers computing centers, the surplus electricity from the generation side finds an outlet, while the users benefit from both cost advantages and green attributes. This path is consistent with the 'green electricity + computing power' model being explored in other domestic regions rich in renewable energy, and what matters is the speed of project implementation and supporting capabilities.

Resource constraints are boundary conditions that Hami must face. Located in an arid region, the total water resources are limited, while coal chemical, hydrogen production, and computing facilities all require considerable water consumption; at the same time, the rapid growth of wind and solar installations places higher demands on the grid's regulation capability, and the capacity of transmission channels determines whether green electricity can be sufficiently transmitted. In addition, the large-scale deployment of hydrogen-powered heavy trucks also depends on the density of hydrogen refueling stations and the cost of vehicle acquisition. Before the number of vehicles reaches a certain scale, the operating costs of the hydrogen network are difficult to dilute through economies of scale. These constraints will not automatically disappear due to policy promotion.

For those paying attention to Hami, the indicators worth tracking can be more specific: changes in the proportion of renewable energy installations in the total installed capacity, the relationship between electricity sent out and electricity generated, the daily refueling volume at hydrogen stations and the growth rate of hydrogen-powered heavy trucks, the structural changes between by-product hydrogen and water electrolysis in green hydrogen projects, and the actual deployment rate of computing facilities. These data will clearly show whether the transformation of a resource-based city is on track or still stuck in planning. Hami's current advantage lies in having real scenarios and defined demand; what needs to be proven next is whether costs can continue to decline.

When observing Hami, rather than focusing on how many wind and solar projects it has built, it is better to track two more tangible numbers: the daily refueling volume at hydrogen stations and the stock of hydrogen-powered heavy trucks. The former determines whether hydrogen energy is truly accepted by the market, while the latter determines whether this pathway can scale. The slopes of these two curves are the most genuine progress bars for the transformation of a resource-based city.

Source: Toutiao, Phoenix Net, Hami City Media Center, and publicly available industry data

[Research Supporting Organization: 'China Industrial News' Energy and Dual-Carbon Research Center | China Energy Industry Development Network]