First-line Research on the Hydrogen Energy Industry: Technological Breakthroughs Improve Efficiency, Large-Scale Development Begins

Multiple industry insiders told reporters that the industry is focusing on technological upgrades for core materials and equipment. As self-sufficiency rates for key components such as separators, membrane electrode assemblies, and bipolar plates continue to rise, along with the ongoing decline in costs of renewable energy such as solar and wind power, the economic viability of green hydrogen is improving rapidly, laying the foundation for large-scale adoption in this industry.

● By Reporter Liu Yang

Recently, a China Securities Journal reporter went deep into the hydrogen energy industry chain upstream and downstream, conducted on-site visits to enterprises, research institutions, and demonstration project sites, and captured the pulse of hydrogen energy development from every angle. The reporter’s investigation found that, as policy benefits continue to be released, China’s hydrogen energy industry has moved beyond a single transportation demonstration model. Technological breakthroughs and improving economics have become the industry’s core demands, and a positive trend of expanding application scenarios and coordinating progress across multiple fields is gradually taking shape. However, issues such as shortcomings in the storage and transportation link still need to be addressed. With 2026 as the opening year of the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan,” it is becoming a key milestone for the industry’s large-scale, commercial breakthrough.

Improving economics is the industry’s core demand

“When downstream customers choose hydrogen-related products, besides paying attention to technological stability, what they care most about is the project’s economic viability. The service life of electrolyzers directly affects customers’ long-term operating costs, so they are highly attentive to progress in advanced materials innovation from upstream suppliers.” Li Xiangjun, sales director of Carbon Energy Technology, told reporters that competition in the hydrogen energy industry today is, in essence, competition in cost and efficiency. How to lower total lifecycle costs through technological innovation is the key to the industry’s breakthrough.

Insufficient service life of electrolyzer equipment is one of the important factors constraining cost reduction in hydrogen production. Academician Zheng Nanfeng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that to achieve large-scale development of the hydrogen energy industry, it is necessary to rely on technological innovation as the core driving force, promote technological upgrades across the entire industrial chain, and “only by breaking through the technological bottlenecks of core equipment and materials—extending electrolyzer service life and improving conversion efficiency—can the hydrogen production cost be lowered at the root, enabling hydrogen energy to be competitive in the market.”

Multiple industry insiders told reporters that the industry is focusing on technological upgrades for core materials and equipment. As self-sufficiency rates for key components such as separators, membrane electrode assemblies, and bipolar plates continue to rise, along with the ongoing decline in costs of renewable energy such as solar and wind power, the economic viability of green hydrogen is improving rapidly, laying the foundation for large-scale adoption in this industry.

Coordinated advancement across multiple fields for large-scale applications

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission recently jointly issued a notice on carrying out pilot programs for comprehensive hydrogen energy applications, effectively pressing the “accelerator” for hydrogen energy applications across all scenarios. The reporter’s investigation found that China’s hydrogen energy applications have already broken free from limitations to a single transportation sector and have extended into multiple fields such as chemical industry, steel, and railways, with the benefits of scaling gradually becoming evident.

“Earlier, hydrogen energy applications mainly focused on fuel cell vehicles. Now, market demand is expanding toward industrial sectors such as chemical industry and steel. The richness of application scenarios and the market space are both continuing to grow.” Kang Peng, a professor at the School of Chemical Engineering at Tianjin University and chairman of Carbon Energy Technology, said that “during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the hydrogen energy industry mainly completed the system buildout from 0 to 1. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it is expected that policy efforts will focus on promoting large-scale commercial applications of green hydrogen and fostering deep integration between green hydrogen and the industrial sector.”

In Kang Peng’s view, during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, integrated scenarios for green hydrogen and the chemical industry will accelerate their rollout. Replacing “gray hydrogen” in coal-chemical and petrochemical sectors with green hydrogen will be the fastest path to achieving scale benefits. In the hydrogen production equipment sector, the single-stack power of electrolyzers will move into the 10-megawatt class. Self-sufficiency rates for core materials such as separators, membrane electrode assemblies, and bipolar plates are expected to exceed 97% domestically.

In addition, hydrogen storage and transportation technology bottlenecks will be overcome. Accelerated planning and deployment of liquid hydrogen and high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage infrastructure will help address the problem of regional mismatches between hydrogen supply and demand.

“Expanding market demand will open new large-scale application scenarios for our composite separators and oxygen evolution electrodes.” Kang Peng candidly said that as photovoltaic and wind power costs continue to fall and scale effects keep emerging, the economic viability of green hydrogen is improving rapidly. It is expected that by around 2030, in regions with abundant renewable energy resources, the cost of green hydrogen will drop to a level comparable to gray hydrogen.

In transportation application scenarios, the rollout results of hydrogen refueling infrastructure and hydrogen-powered vehicles are significant. “We have built the first domestic dual-mode hydrogen refueling station in Rugao, Jiangsu, with 35 MPa and 70 MPa capabilities. The designed daily hydrogen refueling capacity reaches 1,000 kilograms. Of that, the 35 MPa refueling machines can refuel two hydrogen fuel vehicles at the same time, greatly improving refueling efficiency.” Luo Shilong, head of the hydrogen energy industry department at China Energy Group Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd., introduced the progress of the frontline project to reporters.

The reporter learned through investigations in places such as Ningdong, Ningxia, and Ordos, Inner Mongolia, that the promotion of hydrogen-powered heavy trucks has achieved important breakthroughs. In the demonstration project of a hydrogen energy technology company in Ningdong, two hydrogen refueling stations and two hydrogen production plants have already been built. A total of 59 hydrogen-powered heavy trucks have accumulated over 2 million kilometers of operating mileage. The Batuta railway hydrogen refueling station in Ordos, as the first domestic fixed hydrogen refueling station for heavy-haul railways, is equipped with low-temperature hydrogen refueling robots and an intelligent control system, and has already achieved commercial operation.

The capital side also shows a positive trend. Data from the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance Research Institute indicates that by the end of 2025, China’s domestic hydrogen energy enterprises had over 600 investment and financing events, nearly 400 early-stage projects received capital support, and investment directions have expanded from a single focus on fuel cells to the full chain including green hydrogen production, hydrogen metallurgy, and storage and transportation equipment. “Integration of industry and finance is the key for the industry’s transition from policy-driven to market-driven. Diversified capital investment can effectively ease companies’ R&D pressure and promote tackling technological breakthroughs and enabling industrialization to land.” Liu Wei, secretary-general of the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance and head of the hydrogen energy business department at China Energy Group, said.

A key milestone as the industrial ecosystem accelerates and improves

Although the hydrogen energy industry is developing well, the industry still faces many obstacles in moving toward large-scale adoption. Multiple company executives and experts said that the hydrogen storage and transportation link is still the biggest shortcoming. Insufficient technological maturity and persistently high costs have led to a disconnect between regions where green hydrogen is mainly produced and regions where it is mainly consumed. Some projects have fallen into a dilemma of “producing but not being able to use it, and struggling to turn a profit.”

“Large-scale expansion of the hydrogen energy industry is not a breakthrough in a single link. It requires building a complete industrial-chain ecosystem covering renewable power generation, electrolytic hydrogen production, storage and transportation facilities, and terminal applications.” Yang Hongliang, an investment solutions manager at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, believes that only by achieving coordinated efforts across all links can the bottlenecks in industry development be addressed.

Lin Boqiang, president of the China Energy Policy Research Institute at Xiamen University, said that for the hydrogen energy industry to break through through marketization, the key lies in “reducing costs, expanding scenarios, and strengthening coordination.” “The industry is currently in a critical stage transitioning from policy-driven to market-driven. In the short term, it should rely on national pilot policies to expand core scenarios such as industry and transportation, and use large-scale applications to drive down costs. In the medium to long term, it should focus on tackling shortcomings such as storage and transportation and key components, improve nationwide unified industry standards, avoid fragmented development, and connect the entire chain of ‘production, storage, transport, and use.’” he said.

With 2026 as the opening year of the “15th Five-Year Plan,” it has become a key milestone for the hydrogen energy industry’s large-scale, commercial rollout. Yu Zhuoping, head of the expert committee of the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance, predicts that by the end of the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the cost of hydrogen used in domestic terminals will fall to below 25 yuan per kilogram, basically on par with fuel costs, and the cost of industrial gas will also be comparable to the cost of producing hydrogen from natural gas. The reporter’s investigation found that as cost bottlenecks are gradually overcome, application scenarios continue to expand, and the industrial chain ecosystem keeps improving, hydrogen energy is increasingly being integrated into multiple fields such as energy, industry, and transportation. It is expected to become an important support for China to achieve its “dual-carbon” goals and to build a stronger energy country.

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Responsible editor: Shi Xiuzhen SF183