China Energy News: The nation’s first AI industrial intelligence joint laboratory in the operator sector has been established.

Recently, Shanxi Pengfei Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Pengfei Group”) and Shanxi Mobile held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony and the unveiling of the AI Industrial Intelligence Joint Laboratory. The two parties will join forces to promote the deep integration of intelligent manufacturing and modern communication technologies, marking a new initiative to accelerate the digitalization of the coal and hydrogen energy industries.

In response to questions about how the joint laboratory will empower the coal and hydrogen energy sectors, and which application scenarios it will prioritize, Liu Feng, Director of the Digital Intelligence Center at Pengfei Group, and Shang Wei, Manager of Government‑and‑Enterprise Solutions at the Digital Intelligence Integration Center of Shanxi Mobile, provided detailed answers.

Liu Feng stated that, in advancing the intelligent transformation of coal mines, the joint laboratory aims to leverage the autonomy, learning capabilities, and collaborative strengths of AI agents to address key challenges: in equipment operation and maintenance, it seeks to overcome the difficulties of pinpointing faults and the lengthy repair cycles; in industrial safety supervision, it intends to tackle the limitations of existing safety algorithms—namely, their limited variety of detectable hazards and the difficulty of tracing violations; and in supply-chain coordination, it aims to improve the inefficiencies of tendering processes and the complexities of assessing enterprise capabilities.

According to reports, the laboratory will prioritize deploying large‑model‑based intelligent agents in application scenarios such as equipment operation and maintenance, industrial safety supervision, and supply‑chain collaboration. In coal‑mine equipment maintenance, AI agents can perform fault diagnosis and equipment health assessments, rapidly generate troubleshooting solutions, and autonomously assign work orders, thereby enhancing operational efficiency. In industrial safety oversight, these agents can identify non‑compliant operations in critical production settings, intelligently trace back violation records to determine root causes, and automatically generate statistical reports to support decision‑making, thus reducing safety risks in mining areas. Such multidimensional intelligent applications not only boost productivity and safety in the coal industry but also significantly cut energy consumption and operating costs, providing a powerful impetus for the transformation and upgrading of the traditional coal sector.

Hydrogen energy is also an industry in which Pengfei Group has maintained sustained investment over the years. In 2023, the Group was awarded the title of “Chain Leader” enterprise for the provincial key hydrogen‑energy industrial chain by the Shanxi Provincial Government. According to Liu Feng, under Pengfei Group’s assessment, hydrogen‑energy development has entered a critical phase, with AI technology shifting from isolated breakthroughs to system‑level restructuring. This transformation is reflected in two key areas: first, comprehensive safety management across the entire hydrogen‑energy value chain—leveraging a safety‑control platform that optimizes the perception layer of the full industrial chain and, supported by a unified industrial‑Internet infrastructure, deploys AI technologies throughout critical stages such as production, storage, transportation, refueling, and end‑use, thereby establishing an integrated safety‑management platform for the entire hydrogen‑energy ecosystem and enabling seamless coordination and all‑scenario scheduling within a digital‑intelligent hydrogen framework. Second, for the Group’s broader intelligent‑operations domain, building on the Pengfei AI Industrial Agent—“Xiao Peng”—the Group has constructed a multi‑layered model architecture comprising a foundational layer, industry‑specific capabilities, and scenario‑driven applications, thus establishing its own large‑model ecosystem. The Group has also taken the lead in deploying these large‑model agents in practical use cases such as equipment maintenance, supply‑chain collaboration, and industrial safety monitoring.

Specifically, the laboratory will align its efforts with both technical challenges and industry needs in the hydrogen energy sector. In the process of digitally monitoring the hydrogen production stage, multi-modal data fusion and real-time collection of multidimensional operational data from pressure vessels—such as gas holders, pipelines, and hydrogen storage tanks—will rely on AI‑driven data models to promptly flag anomalies, swiftly identify potential safety hazards, and help enterprises enhance their safety performance. Within the hydrogen energy value chain, the production phase employs a large number of bearing‑type, compressor‑type, and motor‑type equipment, which inherently carry risks of operational failures. By leveraging AI‑based big data analytics and fault‑mechanism modeling, it is possible to predict equipment failure locations in advance, enable fault diagnosis and equipment health assessments, and rapidly generate corrective solutions while automatically dispatching work orders, thereby improving maintenance and operations efficiency.

Pengfei Group, leveraging its existing industrial footprint, can provide a wide range of application scenarios for the laboratory. Since 2019, it has been planning and developing the Pengwan Hydrogen Port Hydrogen Industry Park—a world‑leading hydrogen energy demonstration base—aiming to build a modern hydrogen‑energy industry ecosystem that integrates production, storage, transportation, refueling, utilization, research, and equipment manufacturing.

Pengfei Group stated that it will leverage technologies such as AI, 5G, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and big data, and rely on its DeepSeek foundation model, to establish the nation’s first benchmark for intrinsic safety across the entire hydrogen energy industry chain. Regarding how this goal will be realized, Liu Feng emphasized that “bringing hydrogen energy into every household” is not only Pengfei Group’s strategic vision but also a vision to make hydrogen as ubiquitous in ordinary homes as electricity. This endeavor encompasses multiple stages—production, storage, transportation, and application—each of which must be efficient, safe, and cost‑effective.

The support of AI can help achieve this goal more efficiently. Pengfei Group, grounded in its existing industrial roadmap, is building…   A big data platform for the entire hydrogen energy value chain, leveraging AI to enable end-to-end lifecycle management—from hydrogen production and storage to transportation, refueling, and downstream applications.

AI technology, through real-time monitoring and data analysis of hydrogen‑production equipment, can predict equipment failures and enable proactive maintenance. Meanwhile, AI algorithms can dynamically adjust energy inputs during the hydrogen‑production process in response to the volatility of renewable energy sources, thereby achieving efficient green‑hydrogen production. In the hydrogen‑storage and transportation phases, it enables intelligent management of storage facilities and optimized scheduling of transport vehicles. Leveraging AI‑based predictive models, an intelligent early‑warning system can promptly identify potential risks, ensuring the safety of hydrogen‑storage infrastructure. Additionally, by relying on the DeepSeek foundation model, supply‑and‑demand forecasts, transportation costs, and route‑selection factors can be integrated to optimize hydrogen‑energy supply‑chain management, enabling efficient and cost‑effective logistics planning.

Shang Wei stated that Shanxi Mobile has fully implemented its “5G+” initiative, accelerating the development of a new information service framework centered on “connectivity + computing power + capabilities.” To date, Shanxi Mobile has launched more than 1,000 industry‑specific digitalization projects, including 5G‑enabled smart mines and smart factories, driving industrial digitalization.   It has extensive experience in transformation. Pengfei Group can leverage 5G and cloud computing to address the shortcomings of its AI agents and rapidly achieve…   Currently, the mine is undergoing an intelligent upgrade in hydrogen‑energy production; for Shanxi Mobile, this provides an opportunity to validate its technical capabilities through benchmark projects in the energy sector and expand into the broader energy market; at the regional level, it can accelerate Shanxi’s transformation from a “major energy province” to a “leading digital‑energy province,” while establishing a replicable “5G + AI + Industry” model.