On August 7, the “PV, Energy Storage and Hydrogen Integrated Technology Seminar,” co-hosted by Jiangsu Trina Hydrogen Technology Co., Ltd. and the Hydrogen Energy Industry Branch of the China Industry Promotion Association, was held in Yangzhou.

 

Focused on technological innovation and pathways for the large-scale deployment of integrated photovoltaic, energy storage and hydrogen systems, the seminar brought together more than 100 industry experts and representatives from industry associations, major state-owned energy companies, engineering and design institutes, universities and research institutions, as well as leading hydrogen equipment manufacturers.

 

During the event, Trina Hydrogen presented a series of technological developments covering system verification and testing platforms, core hydrogen production equipment, grid-forming PV-storage-hydrogen integration technologies and its new Digital Twin Operation Center.

 

Industry Development: From Capacity Expansion to System Integration

 

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development reflects an important shift in the development of new energy systems: from primarily expanding installed capacity towards creating greater value at system level. Grid-forming technologies, long-duration energy storage, electricity-hydrogen coordination and isolated microgrids are becoming increasingly important areas of development.

 

At the same time, the continued expansion of wind and photovoltaic generation is intensifying several challenges for power systems, including the duck curve effect, reduced grid inertia and growing peak-shaving requirements.

 

Individual pieces of equipment can no longer adequately address the increasingly variable operating conditions associated with renewable generation. The industry therefore requires integrated systems that can be tested and validated under realistic operating conditions and managed through advanced digital control.

 

Meanwhile, the large-scale manufacturing of alkaline electrolyzers for green hydrogen production presents another set of challenges. As the hydrogen industry moves from MW-scale projects towards GW-scale deployment, conventional alkaline electrolyzer manufacturing processes face three key limitations:

 

• Fragmented manufacturing processes and insufficient coordination between production stages. Defects such as welding deformation may be identified too late in the process, increasing rework requirements and associated costs.
• A high dependence on manual operations. Manual stacking of hundreds of cells makes precise dimensional control more difficult, while manual diaphragm installation can lead to wrinkles and misalignment, directly affecting electrolyzer gas tightness and hydrogen production performance.
• Insufficient integration of production data. Data generated at different manufacturing stages often remains isolated, making it difficult to rapidly trace quality deviations and establish full-process quality tracking.

 

As a result, labour-intensive and semi-automated manufacturing lines can face limitations in production efficiency, manufacturing precision, data traceability and product consistency, creating significant challenges for the large-scale industrialization of hydrogen production equipment.

 

Fully Automated Stacking Production Line for Alkaline Electrolyzers

 

At the seminar, Trina Hydrogen showcased its newly commissioned fully automated stacking production line for alkaline electrolyzers. The line enables automated assembly from individual components through to the complete electrolyzer and provides flexible manufacturing capability for electrolyzers ranging from 500 to 2,000 Nm³/h.

 

The new production line incorporates AI-based visual positioning and inspection throughout the stacking process, enabling real-time monitoring and full traceability of key stacking parameters.

 

Custom-designed fixtures combined with dual-stage visual positioning allow diaphragms to be automatically picked, positioned and fixed, eliminating the need for manual installation. Comprehensive visual tracking and inspection provide precise control over electrolyzer assembly, achieving electrode verticality of ≤0.3‰.

 

The automated process also significantly improves diaphragm flatness and installation consistency, achieving a positioning tolerance of 0.5 mm between diaphragms and steps, as well as a diaphragm flatness tolerance of 0.5 mm.

 

Compared with conventional semi-automated production lines, the new system addresses four major manufacturing challenges: high labour requirements, limited production throughput, insufficient assembly precision and fragmented production data.

 

By combining automation, AI-based visual inspection and process traceability, the production line provides a strong industrial foundation for the large-scale manufacturing of reliable and consistent hydrogen production equipment.

 

Integrated Verification and Testing Platform for PV, Energy Storage and Hydrogen Systems

 

Trina Hydrogen has developed China’s first megawatt-scale integrated PV, energy storage and hydrogen verification and testing center, addressing the need for system-level testing of coupled renewable energy and hydrogen production systems.

 

The platform is based on an integrated architecture covering four main areas: power supply, hydrogen production, auxiliary systems and monitoring. Its testing capability covers a complete range of electrolyzers from 2.5 MW to 10 MW.

 

To date, the center has completed more than 20 tests across the full operating range of three generations of Trina Hydrogen electrolyzers, providing measured data to support product development, validation and optimization.

 

The platform supports two different power supply modes, photovoltaic power and grid power, allowing integrated PV-storage-hydrogen systems to be tested and validated under operating conditions representative of real projects.

 

Five core testing capabilities have been established:

• Multi-mode start-up and shutdown testing.
• Energy efficiency testing across a 20% to 110% load range. High-speed dynamic load-response testing at ramp rates of 1% to 5% per second.
• Comprehensive safety monitoring across the operating range.
• Dedicated photovoltaic coupling and integration testing.

 

Together, these capabilities provide a robust basis for verifying the safe, stable and reliable long-term operation of electrolyzers under different power supply and operating conditions.

 

The verification platform is also open to third parties and can provide independent testing, system optimization and joint standards development services. By generating traceable measured data, the center can help reduce technical uncertainty and development risk in hydrogen projects.

 

Integrated PV, Energy Storage and Hydrogen Solution with Grid-Forming Capability

 

During the seminar, Dr. Bian Tiezheng, Technical Lead for Integrated PV, Energy Storage and Hydrogen Systems at Trina Hydrogen, unveiled the company’s proprietary integrated solution combining renewable generation, energy storage and hydrogen production.

 

Unlike conventional grid-following renewable energy systems, the solution is built around grid-forming energy storage technology to address two increasingly important challenges associated with high penetration of wind and photovoltaic generation: insufficient system inertia and increasing peak regulation requirements.

 

Through grid-forming energy storage, renewable energy resources can evolve from passive power sources into active grid-supporting resources capable of contributing to voltage and frequency regulation.

 

The integrated architecture is designed to support both grid-connected and off-grid operation.

 

In grid-connected applications, the system can absorb renewable electricity and participate in grid peak shaving while coordinating power consumption with hydrogen production.

 

In off-grid applications, it can provide an independent power supply and support hydrogen production in locations where grid access is unavailable or limited.

 

By integrating renewable generation, grid-forming energy storage and electrolytic hydrogen production within a coordinated system, the solution is designed to improve the ability of hydrogen projects to operate effectively under the variable and dynamic conditions associated with renewable electricity.

 

Digital Twin Operation Center: From Equipment Supply to Intelligent Lifecycle Services

 

Trina Hydrogen officially launched its full-lifecycle Digital Twin Operation Center for hydrogen production facilities during the seminar, expanding the company’s traditional equipment supply model towards an integrated approach combining equipment delivery, digital services and intelligent operation.

 

The Digital Twin Operation Center builds on multiple underlying data sources, including Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), equipment-wide IoT platforms and testing and monitoring systems. It integrates digital twin visualization dashboards with mobile operation and maintenance terminals.

 

By combining digital twin technology, AI machine vision, large language models (LLMs), predictive algorithms and other digital technologies, the platform provides three core capabilities:

 

1. Station-wide digital twin for intelligent management and control

The platform continuously collects key operating parameters across the hydrogen production facility, including equipment operating data, energy consumption, hydrogen production and temperature.

These data are used to construct a 1:1 digital representation of the facility, providing an integrated view of equipment status, production processes and the operational logic of integrated PV, energy storage and hydrogen systems.

 

2. Multi-dimensional intelligent analysis to improve safety and operational efficiency

The platform integrates previously siloed data across production, equipment, energy, warehousing and operational processes.

AI-based fault diagnosis, intelligent early-warning functions and visual recognition are used to support anomaly detection and analysis, safety management and operational optimization.

 

3. Mobile intelligent O&M for faster response

Mobile O&M capabilities include real-time alarm notifications, operational data access, fault traceability and closed-loop maintenance management.

 

By allowing these functions to be accessed remotely rather than exclusively through conventional fixed-site O&M systems, the platform can accelerate response times and improve equipment management efficiency.

 

The platform has already been validated at Trina Hydrogen’s Yangzhou manufacturing base. Its AI algorithms integrate data from production, equipment, energy consumption and maintenance systems, supporting a transition from reactive fault repair towards AI-driven predictive maintenance.

 

For Trina Hydrogen’s own operations, the system can reduce labor and safety management costs while improving equipment utilization. Externally, the platform can also be offered as an independent commercial subscription service, creating a new digital service model alongside the company’s traditional equipment business.

 

Trina Hydrogen sees the combination of testing, manufacturing, system integration and digital management as a key element of its future development strategy.

 

Duan Shunwei, General Manager of Trina Hydrogen, highlighted three major challenges currently facing the industry: complex system coupling, insufficient dynamic adaptability and a lack of advanced digital management tools.

 

Trina Hydrogen is addressing these challenges by using its verification platform as a testing and validation environment, integrated energy systems to improve renewable power utilization, and digital twin technology to enhance intelligent operation. Together, these capabilities connect four major stages of the hydrogen technology value chain: testing, manufacturing, application and management.

 

Looking ahead, Trina Hydrogen plans to make its testing resources available for collaboration with universities, engineering and design institutes, and upstream and downstream industry partners, supporting joint R&D activities and the development of industry standards.

 

The seminar brought together planning experts, university research teams, equipment manufacturers and engineering investors from organizations including the China Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute, China Energy Engineering Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd., the New Energy Research Institute of the Hydropower & Water Resources Planning & Design Institute, China Electric Power Complete Equipment Co., Ltd., Soochow University, North China Electric Power University, Nanjing CEPREI Industrial Technology Research Institute and Wuhan Huagong Laser Engineering Co., Ltd.

 

Participants exchanged views on the optimization of integrated PV-storage-hydrogen systems, digital O&M and emerging business models, and discussed Trina Hydrogen’s development approach based on hardware innovation supported by verification and system development enabled by digitalization.

 

As the next stage of development, Trina Hydrogen plans to further upgrade its Digital Twin Operation Center with capabilities including dynamic simulation of integrated wind-PV-hydrogen-storage systems and remote expert-assisted maintenance.

 

In parallel, the company will use its proprietary verification platform to support the development of new generations of electrolyzers designed for a wider operating range and to further optimize grid-forming multi-energy coordination systems.

 

Through continued development in hardware, integrated energy systems and digitalization, Trina Hydrogen aims to support the large-scale and reliable deployment of integrated renewable energy and hydrogen solutions.

 

Source：Trina Hydrogen