Recently, the European market is accelerating the phase-out of old diesel backup generator sets used in base stations and data centers, with replacement demand for zero-carbon backup power supplies continuously being released. In this process, the industry is gradually forming two technology paths tailored to different application scenarios: computing power data centers tend to adopt dual-fuel internal combustion engines running on natural gas and hydrogen, while communication base stations are more suited for deploying cylinder-stored hydrogen fuel cells.
In the data center sector, dual-fuel internal combustion engines using natural gas and hydrogen can be connected to existing natural gas pipelines, feeding hydrogen into the gas to enhance thermal efficiency and cut carbon emissions. Since this technology can partially utilize existing gas supply infrastructure, it is better suited for computing power data centers with higher power requirements.
In the early stages, these dual-gas engines primarily used natural gas as fuel, with hydrogen blending ratios no higher than 25%. As technology advances, some models can now handle hydrogen blending of up to 60%. Through optimized injection methods and sealing structures, new-generation equipment can combust natural gas and hydrogen in varying proportions without engine replacement and is capable of running solely on pure hydrogen, thereby achieving zero-carbon power generation.
Leveraging strong power adaptability, this approach is gradually being applied in heavy-duty trucks, ships, distributed power generation, and other fields, and is becoming an important direction for the internal combustion engine industry's transition toward pure hydrogen technology.
Unlike data centers, communication base stations are typically scattered, making the economics and feasibility of directly laying natural gas pipelines relatively limited. Given this, fuel cell systems supplied by bottled hydrogen can reduce dependence on pipeline networks and facilitate modular deployment and large-scale rollout.
From an application perspective, communication base stations are poised to become a key market for cylinder-stored hydrogen fuel cells. This technology meets the backup power supply needs of base stations and aligns with the broader industry shift toward low-carbon, distributed, and flexible deployment of communication facilities.
