China has successfully conducted the initial flight trials for the AEP100, a megawatt-class turboprop engine powered by hydrogen fuel cells, engineered by the Hunan Power Machinery Research Institute. This information comes from ITHome, citing CCTV News.
The test took place on April 4th at Zhuzhou Lusong Airport. The engine was fitted onto an unmanned aerial vehicle. The flight lasted for 16 minutes, during which the aircraft covered a distance of 36 kilometers, reached a maximum speed of 220 km/h, and ascended to an altitude of 300 meters. Throughout the entire duration of the flight, the engine operated as specified. Furthermore, the trial verified the dependable integration between the hydrogen power system and the aircraft. According to reports from the Chinese side, this marks the world’s first flight test performed with a megawatt-level hydrogen fuel cell-powered turboprop engine.
The engineers behind the project anticipate that benefits associated with hydrogen aviation will become increasingly pronounced as the cost of producing “green” hydrogen decreases. Initially, there are plans to deploy this technology within sectors such as cargo UAV operations, island-based logistics, and other domains requiring low-altitude flight. Subsequently, this development holds the potential for scaling up to encompass manned regional aircraft, and eventually, mainline passenger planes.
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