China's First Hydrogen Drone Application Challenge Kicks Off in Ejin Horo Banner

EJIN HORO BANNER — On August 26^th, the Hydrogen Entrepreneurship Competition 2026—featuring China's First Hydrogen Drone Application Challenge—officially kicked off at the Tianjiao Green Energy 500 MW Coal Mining Subsidence Area Ecological Governance Solar PV Demonstration Base in Ejin Horo Banner, Ordos City.

The competition utilizes a real-world 5-square-kilometer solar PV station as its arena, establishing evaluation tasks targeted at key operational and maintenance (O&M) challenges, including hot-spot faults, panel damage, dirt shading, and structural frame deformation. Through live operational scenarios, the event tests the comprehensive performance of hydrogen drones across various technological pathways, focusing on core technical metrics such as hydrogen consumption by range, fuel cell efficiency, and defect identification accuracy.

The challenge aims to establish an evaluation reference system for hydrogen drones in solar PV inspection scenarios using field data, thereby assessing their practical viability in smart O&M across mega wind and solar hubs.

In recent years, Ejin Horo Banner has leveraged its dual foundation of coal mining subsidence area governance and large-scale renewable energy hub development to execute tests and pilot programs combining hydrogen with the low-altitude economy. Data collected during this competition will be used to evaluate the technical performance of hydrogen drones, providing data-driven support for expanding application scenarios and driving technological iterations in low-altitude equipment.