On December 25th-26th, "2025 China Electrolytic Cell Industry Development Annual Meeting" was held in Suzhou. With the theme of "Focus on Core Technology Breakthrough and Drive High-quality Development of Electrolytic Cell Industry", the annual meeting comprehensively reviewed the innovation achievements and market structure of electrolytic cell industry in China in 2025, and looked forward to the future technological iteration and industrialization trend.
Shen Jiong, general manager of Guangdong Cawolo Hydrogen Technology Co., Ltd., was invited to attend and gave a keynote speech at the annual meeting-"Full spectrum PEM electrolyzer: hydrogen energy practice from consumption scene to industrial application". The following is a compilation of the speech content, and we will review the wonderful sharing together:
At the moment when the new energy industry is experiencing a cold winter, hydrogen energy has become a key link between industrial upgrading and low-carbon development with the strong empowerment of national policies and the demand of green transformation. Guangdong Cawolo Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd. adheres to the core mission of "building a' hydrogen+'ecology so that hydrogen energy can benefit people's lives". After ten years of deep cultivation, with the full spectrum PEM electrolyzer technology as the core, Guangdong Cawolo Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd. has made efforts in both consumer and industrial aspects, successfully solved the cost and scene problems in the popularization of hydrogen energy, and embarked on a characteristic development road from technological breakthrough to ecological construction.
The strategic value of hydrogen energy has been highly recognized at the national level, and the continuous improvement of the policy system has laid a solid foundation for industrial development. In March 2022, the Medium-and Long-Term Plan for the Development of Hydrogen Energy Industry was promulgated, which defined the strategic positioning of hydrogen energy as a "clean and low-carbon energy carrier" for the first time, and set a quantitative goal of building a complete industrial system in 2025 and forming a diversified application ecology in 2035; The Energy Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), implemented on January 1, 2025, gives hydrogen energy the same legal status as traditional energy for the first time at the level of the basic energy law, providing stable expectations for industrial investment and construction; In October 2025, the Tenth Five-Year Plan Proposal listed hydrogen energy, quantum technology and nuclear fusion energy as six future industries, and proposed to rebuild a high-tech industrial sector in China in ten years. The intensive implementation of a series of policies indicates that the development of hydrogen energy has entered an "accelerated period" from the "exploration period" and has become the core support for China's industrial upgrading and the construction of a green modern industrial system.
Despite the broad prospects, the commercialization and popularization of hydrogen energy still faces two core obstacles, which has become a "roadblock" for industrial development.
On the cost level, the superposition of triple pressures leads to the lack of hydrogen energy economy. In terms of material cost, the traditional PEM electrolyzer relies on precious metal catalysts, and the conduction effect caused by the fragility of the material system causes the overall material cost to be higher, which is further pushed up by the increase in precious metal prices this year. In terms of manufacturing cost, the electrolytic water process is complex and highly dependent on high-end equipment. Before large-scale production is realized, the equipment sharing cost remains high; In terms of system cost, the energy loss in the coupling process of hydrogen energy and renewable energy, as well as the later operation and maintenance expenditure, further compressed the profit space.
At the scene level, the triple sense of distance leads to the disconnection between hydrogen energy and the market. In terms of psychological distance, the public's knowledge of hydrogen energy is limited to hydrogen balloons, rockets and even hydrogen bombs, and the safety doubts are deeply rooted, and hydrogen is still listed as a dangerous chemical management at the national level; In terms of physical distance, the construction of infrastructure such as hydrogen refueling stations lags behind, and the actual number of more than 500 hydrogen refueling stations that have been built is limited, and most of them are distributed in remote areas, which is far from people's lives; In terms of commercial distance, the application of hydrogen energy is concentrated in specific areas such as chemical parks and northwest China, forming "application islands", lacking consumer explosives like smart phones, and the business model relies too much on government-driven and demonstration projects, making it difficult to form sustainable liquidity.
Faced with the industry dilemma, Cawolo has established the core strategy of "material breakthrough+business ecological innovation", and simultaneously laid out the business of consumer and energy, forming a virtuous circle of "commercialization of consumer feeds back the technological progress of energy, and technological upgrading of energy empowers the development of consumer".
Cawolo takes technological innovation as the development foundation, independently grasps the core technology of catalyst and membrane electrode, and builds the bottom support for the high performance and low cost of the whole series of electrolyzers. At present, the company has built a strong intellectual property matrix, with more than 90 invention patents in the field of hydrogen energy, more than 160 utility model and appearance patents, participated in 14 industry standards, and held 4 software copyrights. At the same time, it won the double certification of national high-tech enterprises and Guangdong PEM water electrolysis hydrogen production equipment engineering technology research center, and passed the ISO international three-system certification, providing authoritative endorsement for product reliability and service standardization.
In terms of material breakthrough, the company focuses on catalyst iridium removal and precision manufacturing of membrane electrodes, and has achieved independent coverage of the whole spectrum of membrane electrodes, with specifications ranging from 30mm to 954.5mm×654.5mm, which can meet the needs of multiple scenes. The iridium loading of the catalyst continued to decrease, from 2.5 mg/cm in 2023 to 1.5 mg/cm in 2024. It is planned to achieve 0.6 mg/cm in 2026, and the ultimate goal will be below 0.1 mg/cm, providing key technical support for cost control.
In order to strengthen the industrialization capacity, Cawolo started the construction of R&D and production base in 2023, which will be fully completed and put into use in January 2026. At that time, it will form the whole chain R&D and testing capacity from materials to electrolyzers and the mass production capacity of hydrogen energy products and equipment, providing a solid guarantee for technology landing.
Cawolo insists on "transforming technology into value" and builds a full-scene product matrix from milliliter level to megawatt level, from home to industrial park, so that hydrogen can really enter the life and service industries.
Small and micro electrolyzer (civil+industrial): the hydrogen production rate covers 60mL/min to 5000mL/min, the purity of hydrogen is ≥99.9%, and the service life exceeds 10000 hours. Relying on patented sealing structure, water flow field design and diffusion layer design, the civil experience of industrial technology is realized. On the consumer side, the product price is the same as that of the traditional water purifier, which breaks the sense of distance between hydrogen energy and daily life.
Medium and large electrolyzers (industrial grade+energy grade): The hydrogen production rate ranges from 0.5 nm/h to 250 nm/h, and the strategy of "from small to large and gradually verified" is adopted. Six standardized and modular products of 5kW, 50kW, 500kW, 1MW, 5MW and 10MW are introduced, which support parallel connection to 100MW and meet the application requirements of different scales. In 2022, the company launched the first MW PEM electrolyzer in Guangdong Province, and completed 250 standard models in 2023. The dynamic response of the product is less than 10 seconds, and the load range is 10%-120%. It can directly track photovoltaic fluctuations. It has been running continuously for more than 12,000 hours in semiconductor industry projects, and the purity of hydrogen is stable at 99.999%.
Special solution equipment: modular hydrogen production system can be flexibly stacked and configured as required, with hydrogen production rate of 0.5-2.0 nm/h, outlet pressure of 0.8-3MPa, energy consumption of < 5.0 kWh/nm and hydrogen purity of > 99.9999%, which is suitable for off-grid distributed household energy storage, small commercial energy storage, scientific research laboratories and other scenarios; The standardized hydrogen production and charging equipment is plug-and-play, the hydrogen production rate ranges from 1L/min to 5 nm/h, and the outlet pressure is 0.8-3.0MPa, which is suitable for hydrogen micro-traffic scenes such as shared trips, scenic traffic, industrial park logistics, etc. Distributed hydrogen energy equipment is standardized, modular and extensible, covering unmanned hydrogen charging system, hydrogen-electricity coupling system in zero-carbon park, megawatt intelligent hydrogen production system, standardized industrial hydrogen production machine, etc., which deeply meets the needs of the scene.
After ten years of deep cultivation, Cawolo's hydrogen energy practice has achieved remarkable results, and its products and services have been widely recognized in the global market.
On the consumer side, from 2014 to 2024, the cumulative shipment of electrolyzers exceeded 1 million, and the cumulative delivery of PEM membrane electrodes exceeded 5 million pieces, and the cumulative operation time exceeded 100 million hours. The service covered more than 40 countries and regions around the world and became a domestic head supplier. The product quality and innovative design were highly praised by domestic and foreign markets.
On the industrial side, since it started its business in 2022, it has successfully delivered several sets of core equipment and system solutions, including 100 nm/h electrolyzer, 5 nm hydrogen-electricity coupling system, 10Nm³ garden hydrogen production system, 30Nm³ industrial hydrogen production system, hydrogen energy two-wheeled vehicle and hydrogen charging system made in sightseeing bus, overseas household hydrogen storage system, and electrolytic water hydrogen production teaching system in colleges and universities, etc. The technical strength and product stability have been fully verified in actual scenes, and the overseas modular product shipments are expected to increase from May to June this year.
Cawolo's goal is not only to provide products, but also to build a "hydrogen+"ecology, so that hydrogen can be integrated into every life and production scene. The company has built three sub-brands to form a "three-engine drive" pattern: Cawolo hydrogen appliances focus on hydrogen to enjoy life, take user perception as the core, and make the home more quality and warm through humanized design; Cawolo hydrogen energy has a low-carbon future, supported by electrolysis technology, providing efficient hydrogen production solutions for transportation, energy storage and industry, and driving the green transformation of energy; Light coffee focuses on consumption empowerment, taking high-frequency consumption scenes as the contact, integrating hydrogen health into the fast-moving field, and creating an experiential business closed loop.
In the future, Cawolo will continue to focus on technological innovation, take scene application as the guidance and take ecological construction as the goal, and promote the popularization and application of hydrogen energy in many fields, such as hydrogen unmanned aerial vehicles, wind and energy storage, hydrogen water irrigation, hydrogen energy transportation, hydrogen drinks, etc., so that hydrogen energy can truly become a green energy for inclusive life and contribute to the global low-carbon transformation.
At this annual meeting of electrolytic cell industry development in China, Guangdong Cawolo Hydrogen Technology Co., Ltd. won the "2025 China Electrolytic Cell Industry PEM Electrolytic Cell Competitiveness Brand Award" by virtue of its leading technical strength and excellent market performance in the field of PEM electrolytic cells.
