Energy Insider: China Doubles Down on Hydrogen Energy, BYD Drives Into Cambodia

This week’s Caixin energy wrap covers several key developments in China’s climate and energy sector, focusing on policy, industry initiatives, and data reflecting rapid technological and infrastructure changes. The main points touched upon in the newsletter include China’s increased commitment to hydrogen energy, BYD's expansion in Cambodia, acceleration of electricity spot market rollouts, and a significant surge in electric vehicle (EV) charging during the recent Labor Day holiday. The following summary highlights the main elements of the original text, with each key fact referenced by its source paragraph(s).

1. China is further intensifying its hydrogen energy ambitions for the remainder of the decade. According to the National Energy Administration (NEA), new policy frameworks will be advanced to better integrate hydrogen into the national energy regime and to foster breakthroughs in technologies and critical equipment. There are ongoing steps to develop the entire supply chain, from production and storage to logistics and downstream applications [para. 5][para. 6][para. 7][para. 8][para. 9].

2. China currently leads the world as both the largest producer and consumer of hydrogen energy, accounting for over one third of global totals according to the 2025 China Hydrogen Energy Development Report. However, a significant challenge remains: only 1% of Chinese hydrogen production is renewable, the vast majority still originating from fossil fuels, mirroring a universal industry barrier [para. 10][para. 11].

3. Efforts are underway to shift to "green hydrogen." As of end-2023, 94 renewable hydrogen projects had been completed in China, 83 were under construction, and a further 468 were in planning. A significant facility, a mega solar-to-hydrogen plant in Kuqa, Xinjiang, went online in August 2023 and aims for an annual output of 20,000 tons by 2026. China now houses more than half of the world’s manufacturing capacity for renewable hydrogen [para. 12][para. 13][para. 14].

4. In the electric vehicle (EV) sector, Chinese giant BYD has broken ground on a $32 million plant in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, Cambodia. Scheduled for completion by October with an eventual annual output capacity of 10,000 vehicles, the plant will assemble both battery EVs and plug-in hybrids using a “completely knocked down” (CKD) model. This move underpins BYD’s global strategy, which has seen expansion into over 100 countries since May 2021. BYD sold 21,400 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in Brazil and 8,800 in Thailand in Q1 2025, leading these markets and emphasizing localization to bypass trade barriers [para. 15][para. 16][para. 17][para. 18][para. 19].

5. China’s central government mandated that all regions implement electricity spot trading by the end of the year, with some provinces expected to go live sooner. For example, Hubei must launch by June and Zhejiang by year-end, while others, including Shanghai, are to test systems in advance. Spot trading, which enables real-time pricing, plays a vital role in integrating more renewable energy like wind and solar into the grid by encouraging electricity usage when green energy is most abundant [para. 20][para. 21][para. 22][para. 23][para. 24].

6. EV infrastructure is also booming. During the four-day Labor Day holiday, EV charging on highways reached 30.68 GWh—a record high and 28% up from the previous year. In Q1 2024, daily electricity use at charging stations jumped by 42.3%, with 931,000 new charging pillars (including 321,000 public ones) installed, representing a 30.1% year-on-year increase [para. 25][para. 26][para. 27][para. 28][para. 29].

These developments underscore China’s continued drive toward a greener energy sector, powered both by policy and major industrial investments [para. 30].