At NTT Research Upgrade 2026, I met the team behind NTT Anode Energy’s research on hydrogen pipeline transportation. They showed me a section of the resin-based pipe the company plans to insert into existing underground telecom conduits, which helped me better understand how the technology will be deployed.

Hydrogen is often presented as a promising clean energy source, but transporting it safely and affordably is still a major challenge. It is not a primary fuel source in the usual sense, but an energy carrier that can be produced from water, biomass, or fossil fuels. When used in fuel cells to generate electricity, it produces only water and heat, not CO2, at the point of use, which is one reason it remains central to many decarbonization plans.

That is especially relevant in Japan, which has been investing heavily in hydrogen as part of its longer-term push toward carbon neutrality, greater energy security, and industrial leadership in fuel-cell and hydrogen-related technologies.

NTT Anode Energy is working on a solution that could help lower one of hydrogen’s biggest infrastructure barriers by using existing underground infrastructure rather than relying entirely on newly built hydrogen pipelines.

The idea is to route hydrogen through resin-based pipes inserted into existing utility or telecom ducts. That matters because building new hydrogen pipelines is expensive, and the researchers explained that excavation is a major part of the cost. By avoiding large-scale digging, NTT believes it can make hydrogen delivery more practical and less costly.

Safety is a central part of the project. According to the company’s materials and the researchers’ discussion, the system combines airtight transport pipes with monitoring technologies, including pressure and hydrogen sensors, as well as optical-fiber-based leak detection. The team also said the flexible pipe design makes it easier to install within existing underground pathways. Testing is already underway in the Tokyo area.

NTT projects that the technology could eventually reduce initial costs by about half compared with conventional steel-pipe supply methods, while running costs could fall by roughly one-third. The broader goal is to support a hydrogen supply chain that is safer, more scalable, and more economically realistic.

The technology was also demonstrated at Expo 2025 Osaka, where NTT installed a renewable-energy power plant at its pavilion to produce hydrogen on site. That hydrogen-linked energy was stored in a Panasonic fuel cell and transported through a 200-meter underground pipeline from the NTT pavilion to the Panasonic Group pavilion, where it powered LED lighting.

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