On March 8, 2022, Counsellor Magnus Jorem and other officials of Royal Norwegian Embassy in China visited the International Hydrogen Energy Center (IHEC). Mr. Qinxian Jin, Vice Secretary General of Tsinghua University, also the Director of Beijing Tsinghua Industrial R&D Institute (BTIRDI) and Mr. Xiaolong Fu, Associate Director of BTIRDI, attended the meeting.

The delegation paid visits to the innovative institutes under BTIRDI in Zhongguancun Dongsheng International Science Park, including Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI), Global Healthcare Innovation Center (GHIC) and Beijing Medical Robotics Industry Innovation Center (IMC). Especially, the visit focused on the IHEC Beijing headquarter, where the international hydrogen exhibition hall shows the complete industry chain of the production, storage, transportation and application of hydrogen energy in a full view, as well as the progress of the UNIDO hydrogen energy projects and the current development situation of hydrogen energy industry in Norway, the UK, Australia, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands and other countries, which were highly appreciated by the officials. The two sides also held a meeting in the IHEC.

During the meeting, Director Jin extended a warm welcome to the delegation of Royal Norwegian Embassy in China, and expressed sincere congratulations on Norway’s excellent performance of topping the medal table at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Mr. Jin said that hydrogen energy is a priority of the strategy of BTIRDI, for which the institute has cultivated Sinohytec and other leading science and technology companies in the field. Recently, with the support of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), BTIRDI cooperated with UNIDO to build the IHEC, and successfully held the first International Hydrogen Energy Industry Development Forum, which was highly praised by governments, scientific research institutions and leading enterprises. At present, the IHEC is collaborating with world’s top scientific research institutions and leading enterprises to jointly carry out hydrogen energy technology R&D, equipment manufacturing and application demonstration. The center is building international demonstration zones of hydrogen energy industry in Daxing District, Beijing; Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province; and Baotou, Inner Mongolia. The IHEC also expects further research and development cooperation with Norway in the future in green hydrogen technology innovation, hydrogen energy production, storage and transportation, hydrogen energy and fuel cell affordable popularization and green hydrogen and green ammonia development.

Counsellor Magnus Jorem expressed his sincere congratulations on the success of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Also, he’s very grateful that BTIRDI and IHEC invited him to make a speech on the International Hydrogen Energy Industry Development Forum last year, and again invited him to visit the IHEC Beijing headquarter this time. He said that the privileged geographical advantages of Norway is beneficial for its development of hydrogen energy, and that Norway is leading the world in the application and popularization of using hydrogen-powered cell in shipping industry. The Norwegian government is also considering the annual production value of green and blue hydrogen in the future. A large state-owned hydrogen energy company has been set up to support the development of hydrogen energy in the country. ENOVA, which is affiliated with the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, was established to support large-scale projects that take renewable energy as a raw material to produce hydrogen energy and use it in the maritime field. According to Mr. Magnus Jorem, As early as 2017, during the visit of the King of Norway Harald V and Queen Sonja to China, China and Norway signed bilateral cooperation memorandum on technologies such as low carbon and energy, in which hydrogen energy is actually an important development direction. He also looks forward to further exploration and cooperation in the field of hydrogen energy with the IHEC in the future.

The Two Sides Taking Pictures in the IHEC

Ms. Lei Qu, senior official of the Energy and Environment Association of the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, Mr. Peng Gao, senior business official of the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, and Ms. April Qian, Head of Global Affairs of BTIRDI, also attended the above-mentioned event and meeting.