山东“氢”装上阵：济青双城嵌入京津冀氢能综合应用试点城市群Shandong 'Hydrogen' Goes into Action: Jiqing Twin Cities Embedded into the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Application Pilot City Cluster

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Hydrogen Energy Industry Collaborative Development Conference and the Launch of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Hydrogen Energy Comprehensive Application Pilot City Cluster were recently held in Beijing. Among the 13 participating cities, Shandong Province has two cities, Qingdao and Jinan, included. This means that Shandong's hydrogen energy industry layout is integrating into the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cross-regional application system with the position of 'manufacturing hinterland and export port.' According to the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, Qingdao, as one of the pilot cities, will focus on building the 'Qingdao-Beijing' hydrogen energy logistics corridor and will take on responsibilities such as the production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and core components, promotion and operation of vehicles, and supply of clean low-carbon hydrogen.

Qingdao's confidence comes from the practical foundation provided by hydrogen production, the industrial sector, and the application sector. Currently, Qingdao's annual industrial by-product hydrogen output is about 200,000 tons; the by-product hydrogen from Dongjiakou Chemical Park, after purification, can provide a low-cost hydrogen source for fuel cell vehicles, and a hydrogen pipeline has been planned to run directly from the chemical park to the hydrogen industry park. On the industrial side, Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park in Poli Town, West Coast New Area, has introduced a total of 20 key projects, forming an industrial layout covering hydrogen energy vehicles, fuel cells, stacks, hydrogen production, storage and refueling equipment, and key materials. On the application side, the logistics hub function of Qingdao Port under Shandong Ports highly matches the freight demand of the "Qingdao—Beijing" trunk line. As early as 2024, Qingdao Port took the lead nationwide in achieving large-scale demonstration operation of hydrogen-powered port vehicles and was the first to initiate all-weather testing of hydrogen-powered port tractors. The spatial layout of Shandong's hydrogen energy industry has shown a dual-core driving intention from the beginning. The "Shandong Hydrogen Energy Industry Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan (2020-2030)" clearly states the goal of creating two major brands: "China Hydrogen Valley" in Jinan and "Eastern Hydrogen Island" in Qingdao.

In Jinan, within the Jinan New and Old Kinetic Energy Conversion Pilot Zone, three major sections are being developed: the 'Hydrogen Energy Science and Technology Park,' the 'Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park,' and the 'Hydrogen Energy Exhibition and Business District.' The Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park has a total investment of 10 billion yuan, and three automated production lines with an annual capacity of 1,000 units each for power generation fuel cells, air-cooled fuel cells, and vehicle fuel cells have already been built and put into operation. In the logistics sector, Jinan has established a 'scenario—vehicle—hydrogen station—hydrogen source' model, promoting hydrogen-powered logistics vehicles on a scale of hundreds in Shandong and surrounding areas (including Henan and Hebei), and creating dedicated hydrogen cold chain logistics routes between key cities within the province and neighboring provinces and cities.

Both Jinan and Qingdao are listed simultaneously. In terms of industrial chain division, Qingdao provides port logistics channels and vehicle manufacturing capabilities, while Jinan, relying on the capacity layout of the hydrogen energy industrial base in the Yellow River Basin, undertakes external radiation functions. The national pilot has opened a policy window for Shandong's 'dual-city' pattern. If the two cities can transform their manufacturing advantages into a stable operational scale, Shandong is expected to gain an industrial hub in the national hydrogen energy landscape that has been tested by a national-level pilot.

The national pilot itself has also established a push mechanism. The "Notice of the Three Departments on Carrying Out Comprehensive Hydrogen Energy Application Pilot Work" released in June this year proposed that by 2030, hydrogen energy in urban agglomerations will achieve large-scale application in multiple sectors, the average price of terminal hydrogen will be reduced to below 25 yuan per kilogram, and efforts will be made to reduce it to around 15 yuan per kilogram in certain advantageous areas. The cost reduction will directly test the real efficiency of Shandong's hydrogen supply system, requiring the operating scale of the logistics corridor to reach a commercial closed-loop in order to convert inter-regional application traffic into continuous orders for the local industrial chain within a four-year cycle, and to secure institutional space commensurate with manufacturing capacity when connecting rules with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

It is also necessary to note that although Qingdao and Jinan are part of the same urban agglomeration, the two cities have yet to form a clear narrative of division of roles in the hydrogen energy industrial chain. In the future, the two cities need to further strengthen overall coordination at the provincial level, improve mechanisms for resource coordination and sharing, promote cross-city collaboration across innovation chains, industrial chains, capital chains, and talent chains, fully leverage their respective comparative advantages, and truly release the synergistic effect where "one plus one is greater than two."

[Source: Poster News]

[Editor: Xiao Neng]