Qingdao’s Bohai Town Advances Hydrogen Industry for a Green Future

Hydrogen is stepping up in the race for greener energy solutions. The Qingdao West Coast New Area’s Poli Town is developing a “green, low-carbon, and intelligent” park to promote the growth and quality enhancement of the hydrogen energy industry.

Recognized globally as one of the most efficient and clean energy sources, hydrogen is often referred to as the “ultimate energy” of the 21st century and is seen as a treasure for future clean energy. Developing the hydrogen energy industry is a crucial pathway to achieving the “dual carbon” strategy and has been included in national strategic energy plans. In Poli Town, the Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park is one of the eight newly established professional industrial parks in the city, leveraging its abundant hydrogen resources and high-end equipment manufacturing advantages to advance hydrogen technology development and large-scale applications, aiming to establish a new hub for the hydrogen industry in northern China.

This March, the Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park held its second concentrated signing and key project launch event in Poli Town, where 13 major hydrogen projects with a total investment exceeding 4 billion yuan were either signed or initiated. The park is rapidly upgrading its “full hydrogen energy industry chain” with the simultaneous opening of the Hydrogen Energy Building and the International Hydrogen Energy Reception Hall, along with the unveiling of the Huawang Industrial Research Institute.

The eight signed projects and five launched projects jointly exceeded an investment of 4 billion yuan, with stakeholders ranging from leading companies in the hydrogen sector to expert teams focused on cutting-edge technology research. The projects encompass the entire hydrogen supply chain, including production, storage, transportation, refueling, and utilization. They fully utilize the local rich by-product hydrogen resources and actively explore new avenues such as photovoltaic green electricity for hydrogen production, aiding the expansion and strengthening of the hydrogen industry along the West Coast and in Qingdao.

Among the signed projects, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle production line, invested by DeRan (Zhejiang) Power Technology Co., a leading company in domestic hydrogen fuel cell systems and key components, aims to gradually establish a public transportation demonstration line and logistics demonstration line between Linyi and Qingdao, along with a Sino-German hydrogen energy research center, a testing and after-sales service center, and a big data intelligent management platform. From the five launched projects, a low-speed hydrogen energy-powered transportation project, jointly advanced by Huawang (Qingdao) Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Professor Tu Zhengkai’s team from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, will utilize core technologies in air-cooled fuel cell stack design, membrane electrode and catalyst selection, and system integration to achieve local independent research and development and operation of over 1,000 hydrogen energy shared bicycles.

“We are committed to attracting strong partners and fostering collaboration to achieve a new leap in productive capacity,” said Fan Yongting, Secretary of the Poli Town Party Committee. In recent years, Poli Town has focused on attracting high-quality projects, precisely laying out three main sub-industries: hydrogen fuel cells, equipment, and key materials. The town has developed a comprehensive investment map of the industrial chain and implemented a full process of project “profiling, assessing, selecting, and implementing,” establishing entry thresholds based on average yield per mu and investment intensity. The focus includes three project lists: projects under negotiation, planned reserves, and urgent needs for the industrial park, to conduct precise investment attraction.

By 2025, Poli Town aims to strengthen its foundation, concentrate on projects, and enhance cooperation, adding 10 new projects under negotiation with a total investment exceeding 12 billion yuan, and reserving 17 key projects, including green methanol production, with expected total investments of over 15 billion yuan.

In the northern part of Poli Town, north of National Road G204 and east of the planned Double Star Road, a hydrogen supply, transportation, storage, refueling, and utilization integrated station project is under construction, co-invested by Huawang (Qingdao) Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Jinneng Chemical (Qingdao) Co., Ltd. According to Liu Bo, the chairman of Huawang (Qingdao) Energy Technology Co., Ltd., once completed, this project will meet the refueling needs of over 100 hydrogen commercial vehicles, primarily serving the Dongjiakou Port area and surrounding hydrogen fuel cell heavy trucks, buses, and logistics vehicles, promoting the coordinated development of the Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park and the Qingdao Green Low-Carbon New Materials Industrial Park (Dongjiakou Park).

Founded in July 2020, Huawang (Qingdao) Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is responsible for the investment and operation management of the Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park. Liu stated that the company focuses on major projects related to the infrastructure and engineering construction of hydrogen energy, including production, storage, transportation, and utilization within the new energy sector, aiming to create a diversified platform for the coordinated development of the hydrogen energy industry. “The support of the town, district, and municipal governments for the hydrogen energy industry provides us with solid confidence and assurance for our development in Poli,” he added. The hydrogen refueling station project, as a vital piece of infrastructure in the hydrogen industry chain, will significantly promote the development of the hydrogen industry and the application of hydrogen as a clean energy source. However, the company faced many challenges during the site selection and approval process for the refueling station. “The main leaders of Poli Town personally led the team to inspect the site with us and coordinated with relevant departments to assist us in liaising with the supervisory departments at the district and municipal levels, allowing the construction of the refueling station project to be expedited,” Liu explained. The refueling station is expected to be completed and put into operation by September this year, providing essential support for hydrogen transportation, low-altitude economy, logistics, and port applications, while establishing a national hydrogen transportation demonstration benchmark.

The stable development of businesses relies heavily on a favorable business environment and support from government departments. According to a relevant person in charge from the Poli Town Economic Development Office, the town adheres to a development philosophy that prioritizes projects and emphasizes implementation, optimizing high-efficiency service guarantees. The first “Resource Extension · Convenient Service Point” in the West Coast New Area has been established to enable one-stop handling of 139 high-frequency approval items such as project initiation, registration, and investment filing, with 80% of items processed on-site and 20% assisted by staff. The town has also set up an 800 million yuan hydrogen energy industry development fund, employing a “multiple investment + limited partnership” model to coordinate bank investment and loans, completing the fund’s due diligence for seven hydrogen projects, and providing financing of 100 million yuan to project parties within the year to fully support the stable development of hydrogen energy enterprises.

The hydrogen energy industry is a significant direction for developing new productive capacity and is an essential pathway for the West Coast New Area to achieve its “dual carbon” strategy. Poli Town is focused on creating a “green, low-carbon, and intelligent” park, diligently advancing project attraction, operational management, and infrastructure construction to enhance the development of the Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park.

It has been reported that Poli Town has integrated the 1626.92 acres of the Qingdao Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park into the provincial-level satellite town pilot construction, investing 570 million yuan to improve the park’s supporting facilities such as roads and utilities, while constructing an integrated hydrogen supply, transportation, storage, and refueling station to meet the daily needs of over 100 hydrogen vehicles. An investment of 400 million yuan is earmarked for upgrading the Hydrogen Energy Building, establishing it as the core operational hub of the park, and connecting with 12 expert teams from universities such as Tongji University and Harbin Engineering University. The Huawang Industrial Technology Research Institute was inaugurated, collaborating with over 20 universities and research institutions, gathering more than 60 hydrogen energy patents, and building a technology market transformation system for “research and development + investment + incubation,” with the low-speed hydrogen energy transportation project completed in April, achieving local independent research and development of hydrogen energy shared bicycles.

Additionally, Poli Town has conducted a thorough inventory of existing land and factory resources within the park, implementing three major approaches: “upgrading, phasing out, and targeted development.” The town has devised and implemented enhancement plans for existing enterprises, gathering and adopting 41 suggestions from experts and entrepreneurs. This initiative aims to revitalize underutilized land, releasing 147 acres of idle land, and constructing a standardized factory project with a total building area of 15,000 square meters, welcoming projects from Geer Energy Phase II and Haizhuojian Hydrogen Energy, providing ample backup space for enterprise expansion.

Poli Town is precisely supporting the development of the hydrogen energy industrial park, nurturing and expanding new productive capacity, and is accelerating the establishment of an innovative demonstration zone for the hydrogen energy industry in Shandong Province, as well as a nationally influential benchmark hydrogen energy park. Currently, the park has signed 20 projects with a total investment exceeding 14 billion yuan, and in the first quarter of 2025, the revenue is expected to surpass 68 million yuan, marking a year-on-year growth of 10.2%. The park is actively advancing the construction of a 638-acre expansion area in its second phase, planning to establish hydrogen ports, hydrogen communities, and hydrogen transportation applications, with a projected cumulative investment of over 8 billion yuan by 2030, aiming for an industry scale of 11 billion yuan and gathering over 50 projects across the upstream and downstream industrial chain, forming a more complete hydrogen energy industry system.