Solar project twice the size of Paris to produce green fuels

The launch ceremony has taken place for a green hydrogen and methanol project in Xinjiang, northwest China, that will be powered by the world’s second-largest solar array.

The 13.5GW of solar panels — which would be second in size globally to the Gonghe Talatan Solar Power Plant in Qinghai province, China — would be used to produce 3.6 million tonnes of methanol annually from an estimated 675,000 tonnes of H₂.

About 230sq km have been set aside for the solar farm and electrolysers, with a further 2sq km for the “methanol chain”. That would make the project more than twice the size of French capital Paris, which is 105sq km.

According to the China General Machinery Industry Association, the project will be built in two phases, with a first phase producing 1.1 million tonnes of methanol a year.

The methanol will be used alongside benzene derived from coking coal for the production of “polyester-fibre products such as PET”, said the developer CAS Liquid Sunshine (Shawan) Hydrogen Energy, an offshoot of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is widely known as polyester when used as a material for clothing, and is usually produced by reacting purified terephthalic acid (PTA) with monoethylene glycol (MEG). In China, the MEG is usually derived from coal, while the PTA largely comes from oil and naphtha, including imports.

But it seems that in this project — known as the CAS Liquid Sunshine (Shawan) green-hydrogen-coupled, zero-carbon-emissions Liquid Sunshine methanol circular-economy project — both the green methanol and coal-derived benzene will be used to produce PTA.

The project also incorporates a planned coal mine, which the developer says will “strengthen the upstream resource base”.

“The project uses an integrated zero-carbon circular-economy model combining wind, solar, hydrogen and methanol,” the company states on its WeChat channel.

“Compared with traditional coal-chemical production, it is said to cut coal use by two thirds, enable efficient conversion of green electricity and local consumption of green hydrogen, and support energy saving and carbon reduction in industry.”

The statement adds that the 13.5GW of solar “is intended to provide green electricity and green hydrogen”.

According to Han Difei, chairman of the affiliated Zhongke Liquid Sunshine (Suzhou) Hydrogen Technology Development Co. Ltd, the project will use the company’s “independently developed oil-alcohol co-refining technology to catalytically convert methanol and coking benzene products into polyester-fibre products such as PET”.

CAS Liquid Sunshine (Shawan) Hydrogen Energy added: “This project is a precise implementation of national policies such as ‘West-to-East hydrogen transmission’, ‘local consumption of green hydrogen’, and the cultivation of new growth points for the hydrogen-energy industry.

“It will push the abundant wind and solar resources of the Shawan region [in Xinjiang] to upgrade from simple ‘power generation’ to ‘high-value-added energy products’, striving to create a model industry of ‘integration of wind, solar, hydrogen and methanol’, inject strong momentum into Xinjiang’s green and low-carbon transformation, and create nearly 2,000 jobs locally.

A version of this article first appeared in Recharge’s sister publication Hydrogen Insight