HVDC Transmission for Green Hydrogen Patent Landscape
HVDC Transmission for Green Hydrogen Patent Landscape in 2026
This is a nascent, highly concentrated field: all activity sits within the top five filers, with Shell entities alone holding the majority of the 16 patent families in scope. Filing activity emerged almost entirely from 2023 onward, signaling early-stage formation rather than mature competition.
Shell dominates an emerging, tightly held corpus
Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV leads
The top five filers account for 100% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating extreme concentration with no meaningful second tier. There is no challenger cohort yet; the field is effectively a single-company initiative supplemented by isolated contributions from an energy-infrastructure incumbent, a research university, and an equipment supplier.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV | 8 | |
| 2 | Shell USA Inc | 3 | |
| 3 | SIEMENS ENERGY GLOBAL GMBH & CO KG | 2 | |
| 4 | Georgia Tech Research Corporation | 1 | |
| 5 | Hitachi Energy Ltd | 1 |
Shell’s dominance across both its research and U. S. operating entities suggests a deliberate, coordinated IP strategy rather than organic competitive accumulation. Siemens Energy’s dual focus on electrolysis and grid systems points to an integration play, while Georgia Tech Research Corporation’s presence signals early academic-to-commercial pipeline activity.
The most recent filing years are subject to publication lag and likely under-represent current activity; the apparent 2024–2025 step-down should not be read as a reversal. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A field born in 2023 with grid-systems technology at its core
The annual filing trend and technology composition together show a field that did not exist in patent terms before 2023 and that is anchored in power-supply and grid-systems engineering, with secondary branches in electrolysis, marine transport, and power conversion.
Annual filing trend
Zero filings were recorded in every year from 2017 through 2022; 9 families appeared in 2023 and 5 in 2024. The 2025 and 2026 figures reflect publication lag and should be treated as floors, not ceilings. The effective start date of 2023 aligns with accelerating green-hydrogen infrastructure announcements at the project level.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H02J (power supply and grid systems) is the dominant IPC class by a wide margin, reflecting the core HVDC grid-integration challenge. C25B (electrolytic production of compounds) covers the electrolyzer interface, B63B (ships and marine vessels) and C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds) together suggest offshore and carrier-chemical sub-themes, and H02M (power conversion) addresses the AC/DC conversion layer. The spread across five classes in such a small corpus indicates technically diverse, integrative invention.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Green Energy Transportation System and Energy Tran…
To provide a transportation system that can transport renewable energy from a power generation facility to an energy consumption location. The system consists of a power generator that generates and stores electricity from a renewable energy, a hydrogen generator that generates hydrogen by electrolysis of water using electricity obtained from the power… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Multimode control of HF link universal minimal con… | 8 |
| 2 | Green Energy Transportation System and Energy Tran… | 2 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural signals stand out: the field’s lifecycle stage, its concentration pattern, its collaboration footprint, and its geographic filing choices.
Nascent field with no established lifecycle stage yet
The corpus of 16 patent families and the complete absence of filings before 2023 place this topic firmly in formation. No lifecycle stage classification is available from the evidence, which itself is informative: the field is too young for growth-versus-maturity distinctions to apply. An engineer entering now would be building foundational IP, not licensing into an established stack.
Early-stageSingle-company dominance leaves the field structurally open
Shell entities collectively account for the large majority of this corpus, and every filing in the top-100 cohort is attributed to just five applicants. This extreme concentration means that for most technology sub-routes — marine offloading, power conversion, carrier-chemical synthesis — there is effectively one or zero prior-art owners. A well-scoped filing program from a new entrant could establish meaningful positions quickly given the low prior-art density.
High concentrationOne documented co-filing pair: Shell’s research and U.S. entities
The only collaboration signal in the evidence is a single co-filed family between Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV and Shell USA Inc, reflecting intra-group coordination rather than external partnership. No cross-organization co-filings between independent parties are recorded. This absence of external collaboration leaves open the question of whether equipment suppliers, project developers, or electrolyzer OEMs will form patent-sharing arrangements as the field matures.
Minimal co-filingU.S. and European filings lead; Asia-Pacific coverage is thin
The United States leads with the highest jurisdiction count, followed by Europe (EPO), Australia, and WIPO PCT. Singapore holds one record. Australia’s presence is notable and likely reflects planned green-hydrogen export projects in the Asia-Pacific corridor. Broad patent protection in key import markets — Japan, South Korea, Germany — is not yet evident from the data, representing a geographic gap for any applicant considering commercial scale.
West + AU focusGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV | Shell USA Inc | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Shell sets the agenda; Siemens Energy and Hitachi bring grid and conversion expertise
All five ranked applicants entered the corpus as new entrants with no prior-period baseline, confirming the field formed entirely within the recent window. Technology focus diverges notably across the short list.
Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV
The top-ranked filer holds 8 patent families, all concentrated in H02J 3 (power supply and grid systems), indicating a grid-integration-first IP strategy for HVDC-linked hydrogen production. Momentum is classified as a new entrant with 7 families in the recent period, suggesting the bulk of activity is very recent. The coordination with Shell USA Inc (3 families, same H02J focus, also a new entrant) points to a deliberate multi-entity filing architecture spanning research and operating entities.
8 patent familiesSiemens Energy Global GmbH & Co KG
Siemens Energy holds 2 patent families split across C25B 1 (electrolytic production) and H02J 3 (grid systems), making it the only ranked applicant combining electrolyzer-interface and grid-integration claims in the same portfolio. As a new entrant with 1 family in the recent window, its footprint is small but technically differentiated. Hitachi Energy Ltd, also with 1 family and a new-entrant trajectory, spans H02J 1, H02J 3, and H02M 7, covering both grid and power-conversion layers.
2 patent families| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV | 7 | ▲ new entrant |
| Shell USA Inc | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
| Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co KG | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Hitachi Energy Ltd | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Georgia Tech Research Corporation | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served routes in marine transport, carrier chemistry, and power conversion
Three IPC branches each account for only 2 patent records and roughly 8% of the technology composition — sparse relative to the dominant H02J cluster. Each has a plausible technical connection to HVDC-linked green hydrogen supply chains.
B63B · Ships & marine vessels
With only 2 records, the marine-vessel branch is sparsely covered despite offshore HVDC-to-hydrogen export routes being a widely discussed infrastructure concept. The existing filings in this branch are attributed to a single independent inventor (Kikkawa Yoshitsugi), not a large industrial player, leaving the space open. A realistic entry path exists for shipbuilders, offshore engineering firms, or energy majors seeking to protect ship-based electrolysis or hydrogen-carrier loading system designs.
Search this in Eureka →H02M · Power conversion (AC/DC etc.)
Power conversion — the DC/DC and AC/DC converter hardware that sits between an HVDC link and an electrolyzer stack — holds only 2 records, both from Georgia Tech Research Corporation and Hitachi Energy Ltd. Given that converter topology is a known efficiency bottleneck for direct HVDC-to-electrolyzer coupling, this branch is technically important and commercially under-protected. Power electronics specialists and electrolyzer OEMs are the most natural entrants.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ by technology route
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H02J 3 · Power supply & grid systems | C25B 1 · Electrolytic production of compounds | B63B 17 · Ships & marine vessels | B63B 25 · Ships & marine vessels | C07C 1 · Acyclic & carbocyclic compounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV | Strong · 8 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co KG | Strong · 2 | Strong · 2 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Shell USA Inc | Strong · 3 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Hitachi Energy Ltd | Strong · 1 | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Georgia Tech Research Corporation | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus currently covers 16 patent families in scope. The field did not produce any recorded filings before 2023, making it one of the youngest patent landscapes in the energy transition space.
Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV leads with 8 patent families, all focused on power supply and grid systems (H02J 3). Its U.S. affiliate Shell USA Inc holds a further 3 families in the same technology class.
The first filings in this corpus appeared in 2023, with 9 families that year. Five more were recorded in 2024. Years 2025 and 2026 are subject to publication lag and the low counts for those years should be read as floors rather than final totals.
The United States leads by jurisdiction count, followed by Europe (EPO), Australia, WIPO PCT, and Singapore. Australia’s presence is notable and likely reflects planned green-hydrogen export infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
The only co-filing relationship recorded in the evidence is between Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV and Shell USA Inc — an intra-group arrangement. No co-filings between independent organizations are documented in this corpus.
The three branches with the lowest coverage — B63B (ships and marine vessels), H02M (power conversion), and C07C (acyclic and carbocyclic compounds, covering carrier chemicals such as ammonia and methanol) — each account for only 2 patent records. Marine-vessel systems and DC/DC converter topologies for direct HVDC-to-electrolyzer coupling are the most technically grounded entry points given current prior-art density.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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