(Yicai Global) Feb. 28 -- Panasonic Group’s Chinese unit announced that the Japanese company’s first hydrogen fuel cell generator project in China has kicked off operations, with sales set to begin in April.

The project is based at Panasonic’s battery plant in Wuxi and came online on Feb. 24, Panasonic China said on its official WeChat account yesterday. The firm is using the five-kilowatt pure hydrogen fuel cells Panasonic unveiled in Japan in October 2021 in the generators that will hit the Chinese market, it added.

The 5 KW hydrogen fuel cells have a high energy utilization rate and long life and can be connected to multiple battery sets. The generators can provide electricity, cooling, and heating at the same time, improving energy efficiency and giving full play to hydrogen fuel cell capacity, Panasonic China said.

Wuxi is accelerating the clustering of cutting-edge projects, including new-generation photovoltaic, power battery, and hydrogen energy storage projects, Wuxi Daily cited Mayor Zhao Jianjun as saying at Panasonic China’s project launch event. The company will comprehensively explore industrial applications in the hydrogen fuel cell component field in Wuxi, he added.

Zhao also said he expects Panasonic to deepen its strategic cooperation with Wuxi by stepping up the construction of key projects, promoting the early production of lithium battery and refrigerator research and development center projects, and actively introducing new technologies and products for new-generation power battery cells.

The layout of hydrogen energy in the Chinese market can bring advanced technology and funds, Zhang Xinyuan, secretary-general of Co-Found, told Securities Daily today. At the same time, China’s growing market for hydrogen energy is also of interest to foreign investors, Zhang noted.

The development of hydrogen energy in China needs further upgrades in terms of industrialization, said Qi Haihan, president of Beijing THE Solar Tech. In some key technology fields, there is a big gap with the advanced level overseas, he added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione