The photovoltaic hydrogen production project in the Shanghaimiao Economic Development Zone, one of the first of such projects in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, has successfully entered trial operation and produced its first cubic meter of hydrogen.

This project has a total investment of 1.62 billion yuan ($221.92 million), and includes the construction of a 250-megawatt photovoltaic power station.

This project is estimated to have an annual hydrogen production capacity of approximately 6,000 metric tons. It is also designed to achieve a hydrogen gas purity of 99.99 percent.

When the project is put into operation, the annual average electricity generation is estimated to be around 470 million kilowatt-hours, which can save approximately 146,000 tons of standard coal, leading to a reduction of 390,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Moreover, the major equipment and core materials used in this project, such as photovoltaic components, electrolyzers, hydrogen storage tanks, and hydrogen transportation pipelines, have all been localized, effectively promoting the development of hydrogen energy equipment and the hydrogen energy industry chain.

As a crucial national energy and strategic resource base, Inner Mongolia is rich in energy resources, with abundant sources for hydrogen energy as well as diverse application scenarios, all of which showcase enormous hydrogen production potential.

In recent years, Inner Mongolia has been making efforts to construct a nationally significant green hydrogen production base, a hydrogen energy equipment manufacturing base, a fuel cell heavy-duty vehicle demonstration base, a diverse green hydrogen application base, and a hydrogen energy technology research and development base.

By prioritizing the integration of wind and solar energy with hydrogen production, a series of green hydrogen pilot projects are being launched to promote the large-scale development of wind-solar hydrogen production and to explore commercial models for hydrogen energy supply and heating.

Currently, Inner Mongolia has approved the implementation of 39 integrated wind, solar and hydrogen production projects, with a supporting scale of 21.36 million kilowatts of new energy and a green hydrogen scale of 855,000 tons.

By 2025, Inner Mongolia is to preliminarily form a hydrogen energy industry cluster that integrates hydrogen production, storage, transportation, and application. This cluster will boost the transformation and upgrading of the region's energy industry, said a spokesperson from the region's energy department.