Hydrogen Technologies: How H2-Ready is Hong Kong?

Hydrogen technologies have been playing an increasingly prominent role in recent years, as governments and industries have ramped up their efforts to implement the energy transition and promote sustainable development. In 2020, the German Federal Government released its National Hydrogen Strategy, containing 38 measures around the promotion and development of hydrogen technologies. To strengthen international cooperation in the hydrogen sector, Germany opened its first “hydrogen diplomacy office” in Nigeria in late 2021, followed by a second office in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the European Commission has laid out the “hydrogen strategy for a climate neutral Europe,” which follows the European Green Deal of 2019 and aims to reach an annual production capacity for green hydrogen of 1 million tonnes by 2024, and 10 million tonnes by 2030.

In March of this year, China released its first medium to long-term strategy on hydrogen energy with a timeframe until 2035. China has been by far the world’s largest producer of hydrogen in the past few years with a total volume of some 33 million tonnes in 2020, albeit largely produced from fossil fuels.

Jointly developed by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, key targets of the new strategy include a “reasonable and orderly industrial layout” and “wide use” of green hydrogen production by 2030 – which is also aligned with China’s overall “30-60” decarbonisation goals – as well as significantly increasing the share of green hydrogen in the country’s energy consumption by 2035. Within the next three years, China aims to produce 100,000 to 200,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year, and thereby reduce annual carbon emissions by 1-2 million tonnes.

Hydrogen Potentials for Hong Kong

While Hong Kong has yet to present a full-fledged hydrogen strategy of its own, the SAR is already committed to developing the potential of hydrogen technologies to help implement its ambitious decarbonisation targets. For instance, the development and testing of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, including electric buses and heavy commercial vehicles, together with relevant companies and stakeholders is one of the short-term targets set out in Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2050 as well as the Roadmap on Popularisation of Electric Vehicles from 2021. Tse Chin-wan, Secretary for Environment and Ecology in the new cabinet of John Lee, recently stated that hydrogen-powered cars would enter the testing phase before 2024.

In terms of research and development, Hong Kong has already been making notable progress. For instance, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology announced in July that one of its research teams had developed the world’s most durable hydrogen fuel cell to date. The new hybrid catalyst reportedly uses 80% less platinum and can maintain 97% of its performance after 100,000 test cycles, whereas previous catalysts had shown a 50% performance decrease after only 30,000 cycles. Financial support for the project came from the National Key R&D Program of China, the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee, and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. Further studies are to commence with support from the Green Tech Fund.

Just a few days earlier, in late June, Hong Kong’s second-largest franchised bus operator Citybus had presented its first hydrogen-powered bus. Custom-built for Hong Kong’s challenging topography by Citybus’s parent company Bravo Transport and Wisdom (Fujian) Motor Company, the double-decker bus comes with a 450kWh battery and reportedly has a range of up to 200 kilometres. Cliff Zhang, Chairman of Bravo Transport, said in a press release that Citybus was aiming to “operate a full fleet of zero emission buses by 2045.”

There is just one major caveat: The bus is not (yet) legally allowed to operate in the territory. While technological innovation has been moving in the right direction, the practical implementation of hydrogen technologies in Hong Kong is still being hampered by the lack of a clearly defined regulatory framework.

Mind the Regulatory Gap

Currently, the manufacturing, handling, storage, transportation, and use of both gaseous and liquid hydrogen in Hong Kong is heavily restricted under the Dangerous Goods Ordinance, which applies to explosives, compressed gases, and other corrosive, toxic, or readily combustible substances.

Furthermore, the Road Tunnels (Government) Regulations prohibit vehicles conveying any dangerous goods – except for “fuel which is being carried in the fuel tank of a vehicle for the purpose only of the propulsion of the vehicle” – from using any tunnels in the territory. Offenders may be liable to a penalty of HK$5,000. Although “fuel” within the given context refers to petroleum spirit, the regulations offer no clear definition of the term and thus leave room for ambiguity regarding the use of alternative fuels such as hydrogen.

Likewise, Hong Kong regulations remain somewhat vague with regards to the import of hydrogen into the SAR. Under the Gas Safety Ordinance, only registered gas supply companies may be permitted to import and supply gas into Hong Kong. Here, gas is defined as town gas, liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas, or any mixture of such gases. Town gas, meanwhile, is further defined as “any gas which is primarily a mixture of hydrogen and methane.” Hence, it could be argued that the import and supply of pure hydrogen does not actually fall within the scope of the Gas Safety Ordinance.

In order to address these and other prevailing regulatory issues, the Government set up an inter-departmental working group in 2021. Then Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing stated in the Legislative Council that the group would “handle a range of preparation work on the supply of hydrogen energy and the necessary technological studies, safety considerations, regulatory legislation, etc. that are needed for the local application of hydrogen energy.”

It will be an important task for the administration in the coming years to build a regulatory framework on hydrogen which is aligned with the city’s structural demands, technological capabilities, and environmental aspirations. If Hong Kong can convert ambitions into action in a timely manner, this could potentially pave the way for new cooperation opportunities in the area of green hydrogen.

By Hendrik Hillebrecht