(Yicai Global) March 5 -- CIMC Enric Holdings has penned two joint venture agreements with Norway’s Hexagon Purus to provide safe, economic and efficient storage and transport for high-pressure hydrogen to meet fast-growing demand in China and Southeast Asia.

The partners will set up a high-pressure hydrogen cylinder JV 51 percent owned by Hexagon Purus and a hydrogen supply system JV 51 percent owned by CIMC Enric, with both registered in Hong Kong. The two companies will form an operating subsidiary and a joint sales and marketing team this year, Shenzhen-based CIMC Enric said in a statement on March 2.

The new ventures plan to build a production line with annual output of about 100,000 hydrogen cylinders, of which Type 3 products are expected to generate revenue this year, said Yang Baoying, CIMC Enric’s deputy general manager and head of its hydrogen energy business.

Construction of the Type 4 cylinder production facility is expected to begin as early as the second quarter of this year, and tests will be conducted this year at the earliest. Hexagon Purus, an independent listed subsidiary of Hexagon Composites, boasts the world’s leading technology for Type 4 cylinders and hydrogen supply systems.

China’s hydrogen cylinder market will grow 48 percent over the next decade, according to industry researcher TrendBank. The number of fuel cell vehicles will reach 100,000 by 2025, with the hydrogen cylinder market hitting CNY3.92 billion (USD605.3 million). There will be 1 million fuel cell vehicles by 2030, when the hydrogen cylinder market will be worth CNY20 billion.

CIMC Enric is a wholly owned unit of China International Marine Containers Group. It deals in cryogenic and compressed gas storage and transport solutions and clean energy equipment.

The company has been in the hydrogen energy business since 2006, and its products include hydrogen tube bundle transporter, hydrogen cylinder group for refueling station, hydrogen refueling truck, liquid hydrogen tank, diaphragm compressor, and hydrogen refueling machine.

Editor: Peter Thomas