Guangdong upgrade gets new impetus

A tramcar using hydrogen energy was finally put into use in Gaoming district of Foshan, Guangdong province, at the end of November, after the local authority announced a plan to develop the hydrogen energy sector in 2014.

"Hydrogen energy will be widely used in buses, trams, trains and ships in the near future, demonstrating the emerging technology development in Foshan," said Mao Zongqiang, a professor at the nuclear energy and new energy research institute of Tsinghua University.

Equipped with six hydrogen tanks, the tram can travel 100 kilometers, with a top speed of 70 kilometers per hour.

Foshan's plan to develop the hydrogen energy industry was part of efforts by cities on the west bank of the Pearl River to facilitate the advanced equipment and manufacturing industry over the past few years.

"We are introducing a number of new industrial leaders to settle down in Gaoming, aiming to develop the district into a world-leading hydrogen energy center in the years ahead," said Xu Dongtao, Party secretary of Gaoming.

As of October, a total of 768 vehicles powered by hydrogen energy had been put into use in Foshan, with six hydrogen energy filling stations already established, according to local government sources.

According to an industrial development plan issued by the local government in 2018, Foshan's industrial output value for the hydrogen energy sector is expected to reach 100 billion yuan ($14.2 billion) by 2030.

In addition to hydrogen energy development, Foshan has also established an intelligent manufacturing technology park in its Shunde district, collaborating with leading robot manufacturer Kuka and Chinese home appliance maker Midea.

With an area of 800,000 square meters, the technology park consists of four areas centered on intelligent manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and smart home.

"The technology park aims to show intelligent technology application scenarios in manufacturing, living, commerce and healthcare," said Fu Shengbin, head of Kuka's operations in Shunde.

The annual output value of the park is expected to reach 240 million yuan by the end of 2019, and 650 million yuan in 2020.

Traveling to the west from Foshan, cities on the west bank of the Pearl River have been also gearing up for development of the advanced equipment and manufacturing industry.

Yunfu, which is about one hour by high-speed train from Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, is now home to 24 companies related to the hydrogen energy resources, involving a total investment of more than 5 billion yuan.

Cities on the west bank of the Pearl River include Foshan, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, Yunfu and Shaoguan.

Official statistics showed that the advanced equipment and manufacturing industry grew quickly on the west bank of the Pearl River in the past few years, with the added industrial value growing annually by 11.8 percent from 2015 to 2018 to reach 1.15 trillion yuan.

"There has been an obvious trend of industrial agglomeration on the west bank of the Pearl River, with the strengthening development quality of the advanced equipment and manufacturing industry," said Wu Yuguang, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Industry and Information Technology Department.

According to Wu, a total of 345 equipment products reached the provincial-level or above technology standard between 2015 and 2018, after leading companies in the region had been encouraged to facilitate innovation and core technology research and development.

In addition, patents related to advanced equipment and manufacturing industry in the region increased annually by 75.5 percent between 2015 and 2018, according to Wu.

According to an action plan to facilitate the advanced equipment and manufacturing industry on the west bank of the Pearl River, the output value of the industry is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan by 2020.

"The west bank of the Pearl River Delta aims to develop into one of the world's influential and competitive regions in the advanced equipment and manufacturing industry," said Wu.

According to the plan, the region will give priorities to the development of machine tools, robotics, new energy automobiles, advanced ocean engineering and offshore wind power equipment, railway traffic equipment, general aviation and satellite application.