(Yicai Global) March 3 -- Shanghai plans to build its largest hydrogen filling center to help develop the industry in the city and the Yangtze River Delta region.

The investors in the project are the Chinese unit of French multinational Air Liquide, Shanghai government-backed Shenergy Group, and Shanghai Chemical Industry Park Investment Industrial, an investment company under the operator of Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, Air Liquide China said in a statement yesterday.

The three parties signed an agreement on the project, to be located in Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, on March. 1.

The first phase, with a total investment of CNY180  million (USD29 million), will start construction in August and will have an annual capacity of 8,400 tons of high purity hydrogen once operational. The second phase will build a hydrogen liquefaction and filling plant, the largest in Shanghai. The products will be mostly sold to the hydrogen refueling stations providing services to fuel cell vehicles.

China’s central government approved a city cluster development centered in Shanghai as a demonstration of fuel cell vehicle applications. Shanghai will have more than 10,000 commercial FCVs and 70 hydrogen refueling stations of various types by 2025, according to the industrial development plan the city’s government announced earlier.

Editor: Futura Costaglione